‘I am the Resurrection and the Life’

There is a parish on the northeast side of Houston, where I grew up, called Sts. Martha, Mary and Lazarus: Friends of Jesus. This title expresses so beautifully the special relationship that Jesus had with these three siblings. They were truly his friends and we can imagine that he frequented their home and enjoyed their company. St. John’s Gospel, in fact, tells us that Jesus “loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (Jn 11:5).

Martha, we know, was very attentive to hospitality and Mary would sit at Jesus’ feet enjoying “the better part.” They lived in Bethany, only a few miles from Jerusalem.

The Gospel of John Chapter 11 tells us that Jesus received news that Lazarus was sick and dying. All of us during this time of the pandemic have received news of a loved one or friend that has become deathly ill. Surely, many of our prayers reflect the plea for help Jesus received from these friends: “Lord, [Lazarus] whom you love is ill” (v.3). The expectation of Martha and Mary would have been that Jesus would have come immediately and would have healed Lazarus of his fatal illness. However, Jesus delays! When Jesus does make the journey to Bethany, Martha and Mary meet him on the way and tell Him: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (v.21; 32). Any of us who have been faced with the death of a loved one have felt like these two sisters. We too could say: ‘Jesus, if you would have come, if you would have been here, my mom/dad, brother/sister, my friend would not have died.’ It is at this moment that we find the shortest verse in the entire New Testament: “Jesus wept” (v.35). Yes, Jesus sees our tears, our sorrow, and our pain in these moments of loss. Our sorrowful heart moves His Most Sacred Heart.
  
Yet it is also here, in this moment of tremendous pain of heart, that Jesus speaks to Martha – and us – those most powerful words: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (Jn 11:25).

A few years ago, a coworker received a phone call that her son had suddenly passed away. I remember hearing the news and then going to the little chapel here on campus where she was to try to console her. I honestly didn’t know what to say. After a short time, we decided to celebrate Mass for the repose of her son’s soul. When the Gospel of the Raising of Lazarus was proclaimed, I noticed how these mighty words of Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life,” were able to penetrate this sorrowful mother’s heart. Already they began to bring her healing through hope, a hope that started with her desire that her son would come back to life (like Lazarus) but which was transformed into a hope “full of immortality”(Wis 3:4) that her son would be with the Lord. For those who have lost a spouse, a relative, a friend: Jesus desires that these words console your hearts. Only He can bring true solace and peace in these bereft moments of life.

“I am the resurrection and the life.” What powerful words! Christ has conquered death and restored life. Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, is the principle and source of our own resurrection.   

In the Gospel account, Jesus anticipates his resurrection by resuscitating Lazarus back to life. We may initially hope that, like Lazarus, the one whom we have lost could come back to be with us again. Ultimately, we realize that this kind of ‘rising’ could never be enough because we want our loved ones to live forever. By Jesus’ resurrection, our hope is now transformed so that by grace we may become the friends of God and live forever. Even though we still have to undergo the uncertainty of physical death, we believe that Christ, our Life, will raise us up on the last day. The Preface for Christian Funerals poignantly states, “Indeed, for your faithful, Lord, life is changed not ended ….” 

“Do you believe this” (Jn 11:26)? The question Jesus posed to Martha remains pertinent to us. May we, with Martha, profess our faith in the Lord Jesus now and at the hour of our death: “Yes Lord! I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world” (v.27).
 

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About the Author

Father Brady Williams is a member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT). He completed his theological studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome in 2003 and was ordained to the priesthood in Corpus Christi in 2004. In 2008 he completed his Licentiate degree in liturgical theology at the Pontifical Atheneum Sant’Anselmo in Rome and was appointed as the Rector of the SOLT House of Studies (2008 – 2012).
 
Among the many opportunities for priestly ministry, Father Williams was assistant chaplain at the University of Dallas Rome Campus (2006 – 2011) and ministered to the sick and dying as a hospital chaplain at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, MI (2012). He was assigned as Pastor of Most Holy Trinity Parish and School in Phoenix, AZ in 2012 – 2013. Currently, Father Williams serves as the SOLT General Secretary and as the Novice Servant.