Crisis of Faith/Crisis of Love

by Fr. Thomas Keating

Chapter 7

Lazarus

By way of introduction to the next gospel incident, we must take a quick look at an earlier event.14 Jesus had made friends with a family consisting of Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary. They lived in Bethany, a town near Jerusalem. Jesus seems to have made a point of stopping with them on his journeys to and from the Holy City.

Luke describes one such occasion during which Martha was busily preparing a meal for Jesus, “while Mary seated herself at this feet and listened to his words.” Martha became a little vexed at her sister’s neglect of the chores and rebuked her for her lack of solicitude about the success of the meal. Apparently Jesus was not overly anxious about the dinner either, for he defended Mary’s repose. In Mary we recognize a person whose faith has deepened through love and who is beginning to be absorbed, not so much by the words of Jesus, as by his person. She is beginning to penetrate the human nature of Christ and to lay hold of his Divinity.

Now let us turn to the dramatic event of the raising of Lazarus from the dead.15 This incident puts before us a comparison between the faith of Martha and Mary. Let us see how each one responds in the circumstances. Jesus obviously makes use of the occasion to raise the faith, and love of his friends to heights of personal commitment that they never would have otherwise attained.

It is the same with us. Some striking event, some crisis upsetting the ordinary run of things, may become the take-off point for the divine action. Jesus waits for just the right moment to give us a special grace, to bring home to us our hidden motives, or to manifest to us (and to other people) our possession (or lack) of good dispositions. The spiritual life is life, and therefore it can go in two directions. It can grow and it can decay.

Here we have Lazarus who is introduced as a close friend of Jesus. He falls sick, and within a few days dies. Jesus tells the disciples that he has only fallen asleep. Of course he knew he would raise him from the dead.

There are three people in the gospel whom Jesus raised from the dead: Jairus’ daughter, in her own home,16 the son of the widow of Naim, on his way to the tomb,17 and Lazarus, after he had been four days in the tomb.18 As St. Augustine suggests,19 we may understand by these three deaths symbols of three kinds of sin: secret sin, represented by the raising of Jairus’ daughter in her home; public sin, represented by the raising of the poor lad who was being carried to the tomb; and habitual sin, represented by the raising of Lazarus who was not only dead, but rotting.

Now each one of these people was thoroughly dead. Death, we know from scripture, is the penalty of sin and a symbol of spiritual death.

These three people than are symbols of those who have suffered spiritual death, and who, as far as the life of grace goes, are inwardly corpses in varying degrees of corruption.

A person who is spiritually dead cannot move unless Christ comes along and raises him from the dead. That is the tremendous meaning of the sacrament of reconciliation.

The three whom Jesus raised are truly tragic figures. Each one is a warning to us. Lazarus is the most striking warning of all because he is someone described by Jesus as “our friend.” He is a symbol of a baptized Christian who has fallen into habitual sin—one who is not only sick, but dead and corrupting—who is absolutely helpless unless Jesus comes along and raises him from the tomb of spiritual death.

Let us push the symbol one step further in its poignancy. Lazarus is not only the symbol of a Christian who has gone astray; he is the symbol of a person committed to the spiritual journey, someone for whom Christ has shown special love, and who he rightly calls his “friend,” in accordance with Jesus’ words at the last supper: “I shall not call you servants, but friends.”20

Here is someone who is the symbol of a person dedicated to the spiritual journey, who has entered the crisis of faith and has begun to slip. First illness sets in and then death—sin. Then comes corruption—habitual sin. What kind of sin? The sin of pride, avarice, gluttony, vainglory, ambition, lust, and all the others. A person dedicated to the spiritual journey is no more exempt from these temptations than anybody else.

The two sisters send a message to Jesus full of resignation and faith. “Master, your dear friend is ill.” They started their prayers for him when they saw that something was going wrong. Jesus said to the disciples, “This illness will not result in death, but is going to promote the glory of god. Through it the Son of God is to be glorified.”

“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he learned that he was ill, he tarried, it is true, for two days in the place where he was.” John’s words indicate a certain astonishment at Jesus’ slowness in coming to the rescue.

At Last Jesus suggests to the disciples that they go to Lazarus. It was a bad time for him to appear anywhere near Jerusalem from the point of view of his mission, because the leaders of the Jews were out to get him. The disciples did not like the idea at all, and they recommended against it. Jesus then announced, “Lazarus, our friend, has fallen asleep. Well, then, I will go and wake him from his sleep.”

St. Augustine has some interesting words on this point. He says: “Belief in Christ is Christ in our hearts, and the sleep of Christ in our hearts is the forgetfulness of faith.” And so if our faith begins to get a bit sleepy, then comes this regressive process, illness and death.

When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he found that Lazarus had already been four days in the tomb. “Bethany was near Jerusalem and many of the Jews had called on Martha and Mary to express their sympathy with them in the loss of their brother.”

Now notice the reaction of the two sisters. As soon as Martha heard that Jesus had arrived, she went out to meet him, but Mary remained at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Master, if you had been here my brother would not have died, and now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will grant you.”

Her faith was already expanding to the point where she was ready to believe that Jesus could raise him from the dad. She knew he could have prevented his death.

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again,” asking her to believe in the resurrection of Lazarus. She rises to this new and great act of faith: “I firmly believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who has come into the world.”

“With this she returned and called her sister, Mary, privately, ‘The Master is here and asks for you.’ As soon as Mary heard this, she rose quickly and went to meet him.”

Notice that Mary did not go right away. She did not go until she was sent for. Martha, however, with her usual eagerness, dashed right out and put her petition before Jesus. She accomplished nothing. Jesus remained right where he was.

Mary waited until he sent for her. Why go out to seek him whom she possessed within? She had that discretion that comes from deep love, a certain spiritual poise that does not put itself forward but waits calmly for the moment of grace. But as soon as he sends for her, she rises up promptly and hastens to meet him. In every respect she shows herself to be discreet, not anticipating the invitation of God, not slow to obey, not carried away by strong emotion, even by the call of Jesus. She receives the grace of his visitation without losing her head.

Martha’s over eagerness accomplished nothing.

Mary threw herself at Jesus’ feet as soon as she saw him, saying exactly the same words as Martha: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” These are the same words, but notice that she gets the results. It is not words that count, but the motive that prompts them. Her greater faith and love obtain the miracle.

She was on her knees before him. She started weeping. This was too much for the Lord.

“She was weeping and weeping too were the Jews who accompanied her. The sight of them stirred Jesus deeply and shook his inmost soul.”

“Where have you laid him to rest?” Jesus asked.

“Come and see, Master,” they replied. Jesus burst into tears.

What was passing in the heart of Jesus? The Jews remarked, “Look how dearly he loved him.”

But was it only for Lazarus he was weeping? Some said: “He opened the eyes of the blind man, was he not able to prevent this man’s death?”

This shallow reasoning with the implied judgment that he did not care about Lazarus must have been extremely painful for Jesus to hear.

“Then Jesus, his inmost soul shaken again, made his way to the tomb.” Upon reaching the place, he said, “Remove the stone.”

This command astounded the people who had followed him. The body had been four days in the tomb with the stone rolled in front of it. Jesus is now asking Martha and Mary to believe that he can raise their brother from the dead. This is too much for Martha. She has not reached this degree of faith. With her practical bent, she warns, “Master, his body stinks by the this time. He has been dead four days.”

But Mary says nothing. Her faith holds out. Remember that Lazarus is a symbol of someone who has been Christ’s friend and for whom everybody has given up hope—except Mary. It is her faith that Jesus is actually counting on in order to work this miracle.

They start to roll back this stone. Out come odors of corruption. They hesitate.

Jesus insists: “Did I not tell you that if you have faith, you will see the glory of God?”

With trembling hands they take away the stone. Mary is silent. The eyes of all are fixed on Jesus.

“And he, lifting up his eyes, said, ‘Father, I thank you for listening to me. For myself I know that you always hear me, but I said it for the sake of the people surrounding me, that they might believe that I am your ambassador.’

“And having said this, he cried out with a strong voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’

“And Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.’”

What was this strong cry if not the sign of God’s love for the sinner, for one of his friends who had gone astray, for one who was dead and is being called back to Life?

More information can be obtained by reading the book Crisis of Faith/Crisis of Love by Fr. Thomas Keating.  It is offered in our bookstore.