17TH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME – YEAR C, TUESDAY

Theme: St. Martha – Feast

Saints:  Saint Martha, Saint Mary and Saint Lazarus

By: Rev. Fr. Fredrick Kiwanuka

John 11:19-27

MARTHA was the sister of Mary and Lazarus, with whom she lived at Bethany. She offered Jesus her warm hospitality on several occasions. Martha is the prototype of the busy housewife because of the incident narrated in the Gospel Lk: 10: 38-42. When she asked Jesus to rebuke her sister – Mary – who was sitting at His feet, leaving all the work to her instead, she heard the sublime answer that Mary had chosen the good part. Jesus showed Martha that because she was worrying so much, she did not have time to enjoy being with Him and listening to His words.

Another time recorded in John’s Gospel Jn. 11:19-27, Both sisters sent a message to Jesus that their brother, Lazarus, was ill. They knew Jesus would come and cure him; they trusted in His loving care for them. When Jesus did come, Lazarus had already been dead for four days.

As soon as she heard that Jesus was nearby, Martha, a woman of action, went out to meet Him, while Mary stayed in the house. In her grief over the loss of her brother, Martha told Jesus honestly what she had expected from him. Jesus asked her to believe that He was the resurrection and that He had the power to give Eternal life to all who believe in Him.

Without really understanding this mystery, Martha trusted Jesus totally and said, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world “John 11:27.

That day, Jesus raised her brother Lazarus from the dead to show that He has power over life and death, and the power to give eternal life.

The home Jesus found in Bethany was not only in the house but in the faithful heart of a woman named Martha!

@Christ the King Parish, Kampala