When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.
– John 11:20
When we think of Mary and Martha, typically we go to Luke chapter 10. We read there the story of how Martha is busy with many tasks, because there are a number of guests in their home, and she is trying to do everything she can to offer hospitality to Jesus, and those who are with him. All the while, Mary, Martha’s sister, is sitting at the feet of Jesus learning from every word he speaks.
This story, however, is not the only that mentions these female disciples, Mary and her sister Martha. In John’s gospel, we find that Jesus is near Bethany, the home of Mary and Martha, when their brother, Lazarus, dies. Jesus delays his coming, but when he arrives, he finds the scene of a prolonged funeral. There are weepers who are crying, Martha hears that Jesus has arrived, and she actively runs out to meet him.
However, in a small porting of that passage we read that Mary stays home. Now, Mary eventually is called out of the house to meet Jesus, and her exchange is much like Martha’s exclaiming to Jesus, “if you had been here, our brother would not have died…”
We know that Lazarus does not stay dead. In just a moment, Jesus will have the tomb opened and call Lazarus out, and he will live again.
Right now, we may feel like Lazarus, we have been given the order to stay at home by the governor. We are realizing that we will not be able to gather at the church for Easter, or any time in the near future. Yet, in reality we are not Lazarus, we still have life. Instead, I think we are more like Mary. We feel the death around us, but we have a hope that our Savior will come.
Now, I don’t know why Mary stayed in the house when the announcement was made that Jesus had come. But I imagine it was because of her belief in Jesus that she stayed home. She knew he would take the pain and the suffering away. She had a faith that life was about to happen. She stayed until Jesus called her out, and one day Jesus is going to call us out too.
Until that time, let us stay home like Mary; let us be in prayer, let us study, let us wait with great anticipation for life to begin again. We can and will still connect via the technology that we have, and we will still proclaim the goodness, the greatness of God, and the joy of resurrection on Easter Sunday.
The church is not dead, and even though our building is empty, the church is alive, and it is working as we do all that we can in faith, in hope, and in love - but the greatest of these is love. I hope and pray that the love of God might grow in us, and towards others, as we wait with patient hope the days of celebration when we can gather again.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Sam