"Jesus Saw Her Weeping"

THERE IS A GREAT AND VERY HIDDEN LESSON for us in the conversation 

between Jesus and Martha at the time of Lazarus' death (Jn 11:17-44).  Jesus intends to perform the miracle of bringing Lazarus back to life.  He says to Martha, "Thy brother shall rise."  Then Martha interprets that as meaning that he will rise on the day of the Resurrection.  Then Jesus tries to correct that interpretation of His present purpose, saying, "I am the Resurrection and the Life."  Martha interprets this to mean that Jesus is the principle of that final Resurrection.  "Yes, Lord, I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, Who hast come into the world."  The irony of this conversation is that Jesus has come to raise the dead, not only in the future, but now -- which is just what Martha would want.  Yet she cannot understand Jesus as He invites her to believe this.  "And when she had said this, she went away and quietly called Mary, her sister, saying, "The Master is here and calls thee."

Now there is something mysterious and wonderful in all this.  We notice that Jesus, evidently, had been seeking something from Martha, a disposition of faith presumably, which she had not been able to satisfy. Then she leaves and we are told that she leaves to call Mary. And at once we think of that other Mary, the Mediatrix of all grace -- and we expect that in what is to happen it is she who is figured by that other Mary who is the sister of Martha and Lazarus..  For names are no accident in Sacred Scripture. And then we read on, expecting in a way that what Jesus was wanting and what Martha could not satisfy, He will now get from Mary.  "And when she had said that [that Jesus was the Son of the living God Who had come into the world], she went away and quietly called Mary, her sister.

Reading on in the expectation that Mary will provide what Martha had failed to provide, we are especially struck by the fact that Mary says exactly the same words to Jesus that Martha had:  "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died."  But then we notice a great difference, not in what is said, but in what is omitted. For where Martha had added, "but even now I know that whatever Thou shalt ask of God, God will give it to Thee."  Mary adds nothing; she only weeps. [St. Thomas notes that Mary, as soon as she sees Jesus, kneels --which we do not read of Martha.)

Now surely there must be an important lesson for us in this sharp difference.  Let us see if we can find it.  In the words that Martha added I see two things.  First, a kind of hint, urging Jesus to perform the miracle that would bring her brother back to life. Second, the sign of an evident distinction in her mind between Jesus and God.  Yes, Jesus is "the Son of the living God," but is He God?  "Whatever Thou shalt ask of God, God will give it to Thee."  Evidently Martha did not believe that Jesus was Himself God.  He is the Son of God, a man who prays to His Father and performs miracles in HIs Name--but is He God?  This is confirmed when says says to Martha:  "I am the Resurrection and the Life!"  That is something which only God Himself could says. But what is Martha's answer?  "I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, Who hast come into the world."  As we may interpret this now, Martha believes that Jesus is the Son of God, but not Himself God.  And it was for this faith in Him and in His Power as God, that Jesus was waiting before He performed this miracle.

Then we see that Mary does not say this. She only weeps.  Mary, in the likeness of that other Mary, does not urge Jesus to do anything.  As that other Mary had said, only, "They have no wine" (Jn 2:3), this Mary says only, "My brother would not have died."  Martha had said that, believing that Jesus could have prevented it before, and that He could restore her brother now, by a miracle, through the Power of His Father, not by His own Power.  And this explains what we have already notices, that Mary knelt as soon as she saw Jesus--which is not said of Martha.  Mary, knowing that Jesus is God, neither urges Him to do anything, nor suggests that He could do it by a power other than His own.  She only weeps. Her will was His Will. And therefore it is infallible as the will of that other Mary -- with whose will we know that this Mary's will was united, even in the sign of one and the same name.  And what is the immediate occasion preceding this miracle?  "When, therefore, Jesus saw her weeping ... He groaned in Spirit and was troubled and said, "Where have you laid him?"  Now the miracle would be performed because the necessary disposition of faith was forthcoming.

.......

Now this death of Lazarus signifies mystically the death of sin.  What, then, is the great lesson to be learned here if it is not that our hope in the Resurrection must not be limited to a hope in the final Resurrection, but that Jesus wants us to trust in His Divinity and to weep for our sins in Mary, and then He will call us forth from the tomb of our corruption, not in the future, but--O adorable Mystery of Your Merciful Love, O my Jesus--now, in this very moment, so that my soul may never be separated from you any more.  "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me, even if he die, shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die" (Jn 11:25f).  Alas!  How many of us are convinced that, much as we would want to be loved by God, it is impossible for Him to love us!  And how few of us realize that the reason for this strange conviction is the vicious idea that we must, of ourselves, dispose ourselves to be loved by God, that God cannot love us so long as we have the present disposition.  And since it is in fact impossible for us to change that disposition of ourselves, how many souls live their whole lives crippled in their spiritual life because they would want to be loved by God, yet feeling that their own unworthiness makes it impossible? They do in fact prevent God from loving them--because as long as they think it is impossible, it is impossible. And it seems to me that the chief point of this story of Lazarus is to teach us how far we must go in trusting the power of Jesus' Love for us--as though He had asked:  How much can a dead body, stinking in the tomb, do to dispose itself to life?  That is how helpless you are in your sins.  You are convinced that I cannot love you because you are not loving Me.  But what you do not understand is that it is My Love Which will bring you back to your supernatural life, just as it was My word which brought Lazarus back to his natural life. What you must understand is this, that you depend on Me, not only for the Love I give you, but for the disposition to receive My Love. What you must understand is that I GIVE YOU EVERYTHING, ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING1  YOU NEED ONLY TO COME TO ME, THAT IS YOUR FAITH. Faith is my Merciful Love, a Love Which is Merciful because it asks nothing except your willingness to receive It.  Ponder this very much, my child, and you will see how little convinced you are of this great truth, and how very, very much depends on it. 

Now you are beginning to understand the lesson I have been trying to teach you all your life. Now you are getting a glimpse of what it means to believe in My Love for you. You can see, now, that you cannot truly believe in the Power of My Love until you are convinced that you are dead in yourself, you cannot know peace in My Heart so long as you continue to seek peace in your own heart, to convince yourself of your own goodness.  Do you not see it now?  All your life you have tried to get your peace by convincing yourself that I loved you because you were good. And not only were you living a lie, you were, so to speak, trying to get Me to cooperate with you in this lie.  And all the time I was loving you in Myself, for what I had made you to be, not for what you were. All the time I knew that you truly did want Me to love you, and to love Me, but that you did not understand My Love--you could not understand that I, God, could only love what had come from Me--as My Father loves Me because I came out of Him--that is why in loving Myself, I love the Father, and I love you because the Father has given you to Me:  I cannot love Myself without loving you, because I can only love what the Father has given Me, and He has given you to Me.

And notice, too, that as Lazarus was dead, he could not cry out to Me himself.  He could only wait. But as he waited, Mary, his sister, wept, because she loved him--as My Mother, your Mother, weeps for you now.

Such is the state of your soul now.  Now you know your death.  Now you know that there is nothing that you can do of yourself to please Me.  And therefore your prayer now is your waiting on My Word, in the tomb of your corruption, waiting for your resurrection.  Do you see?  You cannot rise without Me now, and your knowledge of that truth glories Me in the Father. But you cannot rise with Me until you have first died--and even after you have died you must wait until I call you.  This is your prayer now, to wait, in your death, for the word of My Resurrection.

--Contributed by a Servant of God, long since departed