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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion March 8, 2008 Martha confesses Jesus is the Resurrection |
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Frontline Devotion for Saturday, March 8, 2008 by Susan Hill
John 11: 20-27 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
How often it is that we face grief and death and in our bereavement call out something similar to Martha’s lament, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” “Where is God,” we wonder, “when we need God most? Why has God abandoned us?” These times of loss are some of the saddest, loneliest, and most confusing of our human experiences.
Martha’s story suggests that our feelings of grief are honored and shared by Jesus, that through Jesus, God listens to us and responds to us when we cry out. More than that, at the time of Lazarus’death, Jesus reveals God’s power to overcome death with new life ... the power to eradicate the source of our suffering We wonder with Martha, however, why Jesus didn’t prevent our brother’s death. Where was Jesus when our loved one was passing through the valley of the shadow of death?
Leonard Hummel writes in his book Clothed in Nothingness: Consolation for Suffering that even practicing Christians struggle, like Martha, to balance God’s hiddenness (Lutheran theology of the cross) with God’s intervention and advocacy (Lutheran theology of justification) during times of suffering. We wonder sometimes if God is playing games with us. Hummel acknowledges this enigma of suffering but emphasizes God among us. He persists in faith stating, “I propose that human suffering is an ultimate concern of God and, therefore, that any theologian who attends to it as such is not only giving an account of God but also doing the work of the Lord.” (vii).
I think Martha’s story supports Hummel’s faith statement. In Martha’s experience, God revealed God’s self fully in the person of Jesus at the height of suffering and the reality and immediacy of that revelation relieved Martha’s grief. Jesus, God incarnate, brought God’s word to Martha, Mary, and the friends gathered to mourn Lazarus, and that word was their ultimate consolation. Hummel suggests that Jesus’ humanity calls all of us fellow humans – the priesthood of all believers - to participate in the alleviation of the suffering of others at the very moment of troubled times. It’s a scary thought, but we Christians believe God asks us to participate in God’s saving work – that God works through us as well as the word and sacraments. We walk out in faith – like Martha - with the assurance of Jesus’ redeeming word, begging for Jesus’ help, but proclaiming God’s saving grace in a broken world.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, our Savior and Lord, we thank you for faith and hope. We beg you to be with us in our suffering, to come to us and strengthen us by your gracious love when we cannot find you on our own. Send us out and lead us to bring your promise of life and peace to others. Amen
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All are welcome to join and share in our Devotional Ministry on the "Frontlines" of the world. Frontline Devotions are sent via email daily. Sign up by clicking on the box to the left. Pastor Dave welcomes feedback. Contact him at pastordave@goodshepherdonline.org. |
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