So a friend of Jesus' was dying in Beth-Anya and word was sent to him. (The friend's name was Eleazar.) And Jesus wanted to go down to Bethany in Judea because of it, even though everyone knew there was likely to be trouble from the Judean authorities if they caught wind of the fact that he was around. The disciples were reluctant to go, because they were sure it would mean death, but they went anyway. This is one of the things we call faith, is it not? If someone is willing to die in following Christ, would we not say it was out of faith? But it was not the right faith.
When they came to Beth-Anya, one of Eleazar's sisters, Marta, came out to meet them and told them that Eleazar. "If you had been here," Marta said to him, "my brother would not have died. But even so, I still believe in you." This is one of the things we call faith, is it not? If someone believes in Christ even when it is difficult to do so, would we not say it was out of faith? And when asked what she believed, Marta replied that she believed that Jesus was the Christ and that the dead, including Eleazar, would rise on the last day. Is this not also what we would call faith? But it was not the right faith.
The disciples believed even unto death, and Marta unto the resurrection to come. But this was not the belief Jesus sought. "Do you not believe that I am the Resurrection and the Life?" he had said to Marta; and she had said she did, but her affirmation was an affirmation of the resurrection to come. Had he asked the disciples whether they believed he was the Resurrection and the Life, no doubt they would have said that they did, but their affirmation, too, would have been an affirmation of willingness to die for him, their teacher. They all thought they had faith, and they did. But there was a divine faith they did not know. And to show that these were not the divine faith, to show that the right faith was faith in the Resurrection and the Life, Jesus went to the tomb and said to the corpse within, "Eleazar, come out!"
But the disciples did not really grasp the point, and rarely do we ourselves grasp it. For when we Christians are asked whether we believe that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, no doubt we would say that we do. But what faith is our affirmation really expressing, and is it really faith in the Resurrection and the Life?
Thus endeth the homily.
