What makes a Christian home?
Is it a crucifix on the wall?
A Bible on the shelf?
A statue of Our Lady?
Those are all good things.
But today’s feast reminds us that a Christian home is first of all a place where Christ is welcomed.
The home at Bethany was unlike any other.
It was not a palace.
It was not a synagogue.
It was not famous.
Yet Jesus kept returning there.
Why?
Because there He found friendship.
Faith.
Love.
A home where He was welcome.
Today’s Gospel takes us into that home at its darkest moment.
Lazarus has died.
The sisters are grieving.
Everything seems lost.
When Martha hears that Jesus is coming, she runs out to meet Him.
Her first words are almost heartbreaking.
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
How many people have prayed words like those?
“Lord, where were You?”
“Why didn’t You answer?”
“Why did You allow this?”
Martha speaks for every person who has struggled to understand suffering.
Yet notice something.
Even in her disappointment…
She still comes to Jesus.
She does not walk away from Him.
She runs towards Him.
That is faith.
Faith is not pretending we have no questions.
Faith is bringing our questions to Christ.
Jesus answers with one of the greatest promises in all the Gospels.
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”
Notice what He does not say.
He does not say,
“I will show you the resurrection.”
He says,
“I am the resurrection.”
The answer to death is not an idea.
It is a person.
The answer to sorrow is not a philosophy.
It is Jesus Christ.
Life Himself has come to stand before the tomb.
Then Jesus asks Martha a question.
“Do you believe this?”
Not:
“Do you understand everything?”
Not:
“Can you explain suffering?”
Not:
“Can you see how this will end?”
Simply:
“Do you believe?”
Every one of us must answer that question.
Because sooner or later every one of us stands beside a grave.
Every one of us experiences loss.
Every one of us faces our own mortality.
In that moment, only one question matters.
Is Christ telling the truth?
Martha gives one of the greatest professions of faith in the New Testament.
“Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
She says this before Lazarus is raised.
Before she sees the miracle.
She believes before she sees.
That is faith.
The first reading tells us where such faith comes from.
St John writes:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.”
Then he makes an astonishing statement.
“God is love.”
Not simply that God loves.
Not simply that God is loving.
God is love.
Everything He does flows from that love.
Creation.
Redemption.
The Cross.
The Resurrection.
The Eucharist.
All are expressions of the love of God.
That love was visible in the home of Bethany.
Martha served.
Mary listened.
Lazarus welcomed.
Three different personalities.
Three different vocations.
One friendship with Christ.
The Church has always seen something beautiful in that.
Martha reminds us that love serves.
Mary reminds us that love listens.
Lazarus reminds us that love receives the gift of new life.
A healthy Christian life needs all three.
We need to pray.
We need to serve.
We need to live the new life Christ gives us.
Perhaps today’s feast is also an invitation to look at our own homes.
Is Christ welcome there?
Do we pray together?
Do we speak about Him naturally?
Do we forgive one another?
Do we make Sunday Mass the centre of family life?
If Jesus knocked on our door today, would He feel at home?
Bethany was not holy because it was perfect.
It was holy because Christ was welcome there.
The same can be true of every Christian home.
Finally, notice that Jesus does not remove Martha’s grief immediately.
He first strengthens her faith.
Because faith changes how we grieve.
Christians still mourn.
Jesus Himself wept at Lazarus’ tomb.
But we do not grieve without hope.
We know that death is not the end.
The last word belongs, not to the grave, but to Christ.
The One who says:
“I am the resurrection and the life.”
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 