SPEAKER_00: Today the church celebrates a feast day that is relatively new.
SPEAKER_00: For many years we celebrated on Saint Martha.
SPEAKER_00: But in 2021, Pope Francis expanded this memorial to include Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.
SPEAKER_00: Why would he do that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because the church wanted to remind us that holiness is not meant to be lived alone.
SPEAKER_00: It's meant to flourish in families and friendships and homes that welcome Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You'll remember Bethany, where Martha, Mary, and Lazarus lived was only about two miles from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus passed through there often, and when he did, he stayed with them.
SPEAKER_00: He stayed with his friends.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of God who had nowhere to lay his head had one place where he could lay his head.
SPEAKER_00: The house of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.
SPEAKER_00: And in many ways Bethany became the first Christian home.
SPEAKER_00: And each of the three siblings teach us something essential about discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Martha teaches us that love serves.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes Martha gets a bad reputation because we remember the story where she complains that Mary isn't helping in the kitchen.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not the whole story.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus never criticized Martha for serving.
SPEAKER_00: He criticized her for being anxious and distracted.
SPEAKER_00: There's a difference there.
SPEAKER_00: The church has always honored Martha because she reminds us that love isn't just a feeling.
SPEAKER_00: Love rolls up its sleeve, it love prepares meals.
SPEAKER_00: Love visits the sick, love changes diapers, love cooks dinner.
SPEAKER_00: Love always serves.
SPEAKER_00: Without people like Martha, parishes could never function.
SPEAKER_00: Families couldn't survive, and the poor wouldn't be cared for.
SPEAKER_00: Then we turn to Mary.
SPEAKER_00: Mary teaches us that before we can work for Jesus, we must first spend time with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: She sits at his feet.
SPEAKER_00: And in the ancient world, sitting at the feet of the rabbi meant becoming his disciple.
SPEAKER_00: That's extraordinary.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus welcomed women not simply as followers, but as true disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Mary reminds us that prayer is not wasted time.
SPEAKER_00: The busiest person in the church still needs to sit quietly before the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The busiest person in the world, I don't, no matter what your vocation or what your job is, needs to sit before the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we all do his work, even good work, eventually we become exhausted.
SPEAKER_00: Service without prayer becomes activism.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer gives us service to the soul.
SPEAKER_00: Then there's Lazarus.
SPEAKER_00: Interestingly, Lazarus never says a single word in all of Scripture, not one.
SPEAKER_00: And yet everyone knows him.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because his life became a witness to the power of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He was dead, Christ called him by name, and he comes out of the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: Lazarus reminds us that Christianity isn't just a philosophy, it's a new way of life.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of us have placed in our lives that need to hear Christ say again, come out.
SPEAKER_00: Come out of your resentment.
SPEAKER_00: Come out of that sin that you keep falling into.
SPEAKER_00: Come out of fear.
SPEAKER_00: Come out of despair.
SPEAKER_00: Come out of whatever has kept you spiritually bound and buried.
SPEAKER_00: Christ still raises the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if we turn to the gospel, it gives us one of the most profound professions of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus looks at Martha right in the eyes and says, I am the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe this?
SPEAKER_00: Notice he doesn't ask, do you understand what I'm telling you?
SPEAKER_00: No, he says, Do you believe this?
SPEAKER_00: Because there are moments in every Christian life when understanding isn't possible.
SPEAKER_00: Martha didn't understand why her brother had died.
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah didn't understand in the first reading why his ministry brought him so much suffering.
SPEAKER_00: We don't always understand why illness comes, why marriages struggle, why we have anxiety, why prayers seem unanswered, why good people suffer.
SPEAKER_00: We may not understand all of this, but faith doesn't mean having every answer.
SPEAKER_00: Faith means trusting the one who is the answer.
SPEAKER_00: And Martha gives us one of the greatest confessions.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's the heart of Christianity right there.
SPEAKER_00: Not simply believing that Jesus can perform miracles, but believing who He is.
SPEAKER_00: So perhaps today on this feast day it leaves us with one question.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus came looking for a place to stay today, would he feel welcomed in your home?
SPEAKER_00: Would he want to come back?
SPEAKER_00: Would he find service like Martha, prayer like Mary, a living witness like Lazarus?
SPEAKER_00: Every Christian home is called to become another Bethany, a place where Christ is welcomed, a place where faith is lived, and a place where love is very visible to all who come there.
SPEAKER_00: So today may Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus pray for us, that our homes, our families, and our hearts may always be a place where Jesus feels well at home and a place where he wants to return.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.