Memorial of St Martha (July 29)

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Lk 10:38 Jesus entered a village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.

Collect Almighty ever-living God, whose Son was pleased to be welcomed in Saint Martha’s house as a guest, grant, we pray, that through her intercession, serving Christ faithfully in our brothers and sisters, we may merit to be received by you in the halls of heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Saint Martha Martha, Mary and their brother Lazarus were evidently close friends of Jesus. He came to their home simply as a welcomed guest, rather than as one celebrating the conversion of a sinner like Zacchaeus or one unceremoniously received by a suspicious Pharisee. The sisters feel free to call on Jesus at their brother’s death, even though a return to Judea at that time seems almost certain death. No doubt Martha was an active sort of person. On one occasion (see Luke 10:38-42) she prepares the meal for Jesus and possibly his fellow guests and forthrightly states the obvious: All hands should pitch in to help with the dinner. Yet, as Father John McKenzie points out, she need not be rated as an "unrecollected activist". The evangelist is emphasizing what our Lord said on several occasions about the primacy of the spiritual: "...Do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear….But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:25b, 33a); "One does not live by bread alone" (Luke 4:4b); "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness…" (Matthew 5:6a). Martha’s great glory is her simple and strong statement of faith in Jesus after her brother’s death. "Jesus told her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world’" (John 11:25-27).

Scripture commentators point out that in writing his account of the raising of Lazarus, St. John intends that we should see Martha’s words to Mary before the resurrection of Lazarus as a summons that every Christian must obey. In her saying "The teacher is here and is asking for you," Jesus is calling every one of us to resurrection—now in baptismal faith, forever in sharing his victory over death. And all of us, as well as these three friends, are in our own unique way called to special friendship with him.

Scripture today: Jeremiah 7:1-11; Psalm 84:3,4,5-6a and 8a,11; John 11:19-27 or Luke 10:38-42

Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Yes, Lord, she told him, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world. (John 11:19-27)

The Afterlife I once somehow picked up, without checking the point, that it was a Roman author who coined the phrase (or perhaps it was a Roman popular saying), “Let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” It expressed abandon to the pleasures of this life, for soon life would be over – meaning, extinct. It assumed the absence both of a coming Judgment and of any significant Afterlife. I have heard it suggested that the phrase comes from the Greek writer Epicurus (3rd Century BC). As a matter of fact this famous statement comes from the Bible – the prophet Isaiah, no less, who lived well before Epicurus. He coined the phrase as expressing the attitudes of those who live as if all there is to live for is wilful self-indulgence. For them there will be God’s drastic judgment and a divine punishment for their iniquity (Isaiah 22: 13-14). In the Book of Ecclesiastes (the author of which may have been a contemporary of Epicurus) we read that “man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink and enjoy himself, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of life which God gives him under the sun” (8:15). Perhaps the author is inviting us not to be rushing through life trying simply to gain wealth, power, status or whatever. Rather, let us savor loving and being loved and enjoying the legitimate pleasures that come our way such as the beauty of the world and human communication. Be that as it may, the purpose of my mentioning this is to raise the sombre question of the end of this life and its aftermath – what happens then? Due to the influence of Christianity, vast numbers across the world for many centuries have assumed the Afterlife, and have assumed that following death all will be well with them. This is because God is kind and good. This optimism is the received attitude, and it would appear odd to many to hear of a person who thinks that one becomes extinct at death. But of course, it is one thing to have the assumption that a pleasant Afterlife (called Heaven) follows this life. It is a further thing to think carefully about this and to draw the proper conclusions. The pleasant Afterlife, according to Revealed Teaching, follows on God’s Judgment – and it is for those found by him to be worthy. This part of it – which is to say the fact of a God who will judge us – is forgotten. Many “believe” but no “works” follow.

Even the consistent atheist can fail to draw obvious conclusions. I remember watching a television interview with the prominent Australian author and public intellectual, Donald Horne (author of The Lucky Country, 1964). As I recall, he had declared himself to be an atheist or at least an agnostic. During the interview he was asked what he thought would happen after death. He said that he had always thought it wise to content oneself with dealing with immediate issues and not to look too far ahead. So he declined to discuss the Afterlife – forgetting that the Afterlife might come at any moment. Pascal proposed to the non-believer that it would be prudent to make the wager that there is a God who will judge us and to live accordingly. Views on the Afterlife have abounded. Theists generally believe some type of Afterlife awaits people when they die. Members of some non-theistic religions believe in an Afterlife of some kind, but without reference to a deity. The Sadducees generally believed that there was a God but no Afterlife, for they saw no evidence of this teaching in the Torah. Indigenous religions have tenets of enormous variety. Hunter-gatherer societies such as the African Hazda have no particular belief in an Afterlife. Ancestor cults are found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. In some societies like the Mende, multiple beliefs coexist. The Afterlife played an important role in ancient Egyptian religion. When the body died, parts of its soul would go to the Kingdom of the Dead. Arriving at one's reward in the Afterlife required a sin-free heart and the ability to recite the spells and formulae of the Book of the Dead. All this is to say that across the ages little certainty was available regarding the great question of life – the aftermath of death. It was the dark Unknown, and yet it was and is unavoidable for all. Strangely, in the modern secular society of the West and those parts of the world influenced by the West, great numbers simply ignore the issue. They do not ignore death (for they make their wills and prepare their funerals) but they ignore what will happen after death. This, of course, is the greatest foolishness because at least it is possible that life will continue in some form, and in view of the universality in society of laws and sanctions of reward and punishment, it is also possible that there will be a Judgment following death. With that Judgment an eternity could be decided. Not to make Pascal’s wager is a tragic foolishness.

St Paul tells us that sin entered the world and because of this death entered the world and spread to all. This is because all are under the power of sin. This is basically a restating of the Genesis account of the entry of sin in the world and its results. The divine answer was to send the Son of God, the Author of life, to become one of us and to redeem us from sin and death. His rising to life heralded our own, provided we live in obedient union with him by faith and the Sacraments. As he said to Martha, He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? The Afterlife is not now a dark Unknown. It is all light and that light is Christ. But we must place our faith in him and live according to his word, ever repenting, ever beginning again. With good reason the famous Father Patrick Peyton once said that he was looking forward to death, because this would mean meeting and being with Jesus Christ – which is exactly what St Paul wrote.

(E. J. Tyler)

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