Memorial of St. Martha

July 29th is the Church's celebration of St. Martha. From today's Liturgy of the Hours:

Saint Martha was a sister of Mary and Lazarus. When she received the Lord as a guest at Bethany, she looked after him with devoted attention. She begged the Lord to raise her brother, Lazarus, from the dead. 

Just a couple of weeks ago we heard the story of Jesus visiting Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, according to Luke. Martha the busy-bee in the kitchen providing Jesus hospitality and complaining to him that her sister wasn't helping. Jesus telling her that Mary chose the better part. And because of that story Martha sometimes gets a bad reputation. Martha is often the emblem of the problems of over-work, over-stretching, over-stressing -- of just being too busy to sit and listen. And there is a lesson there for us in that interpretation, and also a lesson in understanding the value of hospitality. But all of this is at the expense of overlooking her role in the Gospel of John.

If Luke doesn't portray her in the most flattering light, in one way, John couldn't have given her a more important role. My New Testament professor, Dan Harrington, SJ, pointed out in class once the theory that the Gospel of John has at its physical center the 11th chapter (out of 21), and that the chapters of the book correspond to each other. For example, the second chapter with the Wedding Feast at Cana corresponds to Jesus' Resurrection and appearance to the Apostles. Or the 13th chapter with the washing of the disciples feet corresponds to the washing of the blind man in the pool of Siloam in the 9th chapter. It could have been used as a storytelling device. In any case, the center is the eleventh chapter and it is about the Raising of Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus' story is the Christian story. It is an allegory for all Christians of the Paschal Mystery of death and resurrection awaiting us all. Lazarus is all of us. And at the center of the eleventh chapter is Martha. Specifically Martha's profession of faith:

"She said to him, 'Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.'"

No one up to that point in the Gospel of John has made such a statement. Martha's belief, Martha's faith, was the first and as a result Lazarus was raised. Martha stands at the center of John's Gospel. Not Peter, not her sister Mary or any of the other Marys, not James or John. Martha.

And so we pray:

Father, your Son honored Saint Martha by coming to her home as a guest. By her prayers may we serve Christ in our brothers and sisters and be welcomed by you into heaven, our true home. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.