20260729 DEFECTIVE BUT STILL A GENUINE FAITH
29 July 2026, Wednesday, Ss Martha, Mary and Lazarus
First reading | 1 John 4:7-16 |
Let us love one another, since love comes from God
My dear people,
let us love one another
since love comes from God
and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Anyone who fails to love can never have known God,
because God is love.
God’s love for us was revealed
when God sent into the world his only Son
so that we could have life through him;
this is the love I mean:
not our love for God,
but God’s love for us when he sent his Son
to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.
My dear people,
since God has loved us so much,
we too should love one another.
No one has ever seen God;
but as long as we love one another
God will live in us
and his love will be complete in us.
We can know that we are living in him
and he is living in us
because he lets us share his Spirit.
We ourselves saw and we testify
that the Father sent his Son
as saviour of the world.
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God lives in him, and he in God.
We ourselves have known and put our faith in
God’s love towards ourselves.
God is love
and anyone who lives in love lives in God,
and God lives in him.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 33(34):2-11 |
I will bless the Lord at all times.
or
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.
I will bless the Lord at all times.
or
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Glorify the Lord with me.
Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.
I will bless the Lord at all times.
or
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Look towards him and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.
This poor man called, the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all his distress.
I will bless the Lord at all times.
or
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
The angel of the Lord is encamped
around those who revere him, to rescue them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
He is happy who seeks refuge in him.
I will bless the Lord at all times.
or
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Revere the Lord, you his saints.
They lack nothing, those who revere him.
Strong lions suffer want and go hungry
but those who seek the Lord lack no blessing.
I will bless the Lord at all times.
or
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn8:12 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
anyone who follows me will have the light of life.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 11:19-27 |
I am the resurrection and the life
Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to sympathise with them over their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.’ ‘Your brother’ said Jesus to her ‘will rise again.’ Martha said, ‘I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said:
‘I am the resurrection and the life.
If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live,
and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?’
‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’
DEFECTIVE BUT STILL A GENUINE FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 JOHN 4:7-16; JOHN 11:19-27 or LK 10:38-42]
Today, as we celebrate the Memorial of St. Martha, she gives us hope — especially when our faith in God is incomplete, yet nonetheless genuine. This was precisely Martha’s situation as portrayed in the Gospels, whether we look at Luke’s account of Jesus visiting Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, or John’s account of the raising of Lazarus. The synthesis of today’s theme is ultimately anchored in the First Reading from the First Letter of John.
Today, let us focus on the Gospel of John. When Jesus arrives, He finds that Lazarus has already been in the tomb for four days. Why did Jesus wait four days? Earlier, He had been informed that Lazarus was gravely ill. Upon hearing it, He said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (Jn 11:4). For the Son to be glorified, it was necessary for Lazarus to truly be dead. Four days signified that Lazarus was undeniably dead and beginning to decay. Indeed, when Jesus eventually asked for the stone to be rolled away, Martha remarked, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days” (Jn 11:39). The four-day delay provided the setting for a dramatic miracle.
When the Lord arrived, we see the proactive Martha going out to meet Him while Mary remained in the house. True to her temperament, Martha could not wait to express her frustration with Jesus’ delay and her grief over her brother’s death. She said to Him, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.” In saying this, there is an element of rebuke or, more likely, a lament born of disappointment. She showed a lack of full faith in the person and identity of Jesus. This incomplete faith is revealed when she views Jesus merely as a mediator whose prayers God hears. She had not yet come to understand that Jesus is Life itself. By asserting that God would grant His requests, she implied a distance between Jesus and God. Her journey recalls the Samaritan woman in John’s Gospel, who also came to faith in stages before recognising Jesus as the Saviour of the world.
Nevertheless, even if her understanding of Jesus was limited, her faith was genuine. She truly believed Jesus had the power to heal Lazarus, and her belief that the Father would answer His prayers was correct in light of Jesus’ dependence on the Father. In fact, Jesus demonstrated this very dependence when raising Lazarus. Looking upward, He prayed: “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” He then cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” (Jn 11:41-43).
This moment invites us to reflect on our own spiritual journey. In reality, most of us possess an imperfect faith, no matter how strong we feel it is. There are times when we doubt Christ’s love or His power to carry us through trials. Faith is not simply a binary matter of having belief or lacking it; it exists on a continuum between unbelief and full surrender.
Yet Martha made a profound declaration of faith when she added, “but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.” In other words, she was saying that she believed that Jesus could raise Lazarus even now, if He were to ask God for help. The words, “even now”, revealed the depth of her faith. She continued to believe in Jesus as the agent of God even though Lazarus’ death seemed to contradict His earlier assurance to the messenger that “this illness does not lead to death” (Jn 11:4). She continued to trust in the graciousness of God even though her brother had died. Her faith was not shaken by the apparent indifference of God, or our Lord, for the delay. Martha’s willingness to trust when God felt absent or uncaring should inspire us to trust God even when things do not go our way. Still, her hesitation resurfaces when she reacts with shock at the command to roll away the stone, warning, “there is a stench because he has been dead four days” (Jn 11:39).
Her defective faith from the perspective of knowing the true identity of Jesus is also seen in her response to the Lord, who said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (Jn 11:23-24). We would most probably also respond like her, with the consolation of faith in the future resurrection. But Jesus was not speaking about the future resurrection only. He was speaking of something even more profound, for He was speaking about the very foundation on which the future resurrection rests — in Him who is “the resurrection and the life” (Jn 11:25). Martha was thinking of the future resurrection of her brother, whereas Jesus wanted to deepen her faith further by helping her to confess her faith in Him, for He is the foundation of faith in the resurrection. Jesus said to her, “Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world” (Jn 11:25-27). Jesus, because He is the Son of God, is the life-giver. In fact, He does not just give life, but He is life itself. He gives life because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6).
Even so, while Martha confessed in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, she did not yet fully grasp the depth of those titles she used. She was simply using the familiar expressions of her day. She had yet to understand what Jesus meant when He said, “everyone who lives and believes in me will never die”. Jesus was not promising immunity from physical death, but rather that death cannot destroy our eternal union with Him. In other words, even after physical death, the human person remains united with God until the resurrection of the body. This is why the Church speaks of the “immortality of the soul” — to affirm our continuity with God until the end of time, when we will rise with transfigured bodies. Until then, we belong to the communion of saints, living in union with the Lord. As St. Paul writes: “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” (Rom 14:8-9).
Indeed, God does not expect us to have absolute faith in Him on the personal level through a clear intellectual understanding of His identity. The Lord will reach out to us at the level we are comfortable with, but always with the intention to lead us to a deeper level of faith and trust in Him, as well as a deeper understanding of His identity. Jesus brought Martha to know Him and His identity in stages until she arrived at a faith that established her communion with Him, enabling her to receive the gift of life here and now, and even after death. This is the same life the First Letter of John speaks of when it says that we must “love one another, since love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love” (1 Jn 4:7-8). Through our faith in Christ — who reveals to us the love of God — we are enabled to love one another, for “God will live in us and his love will be complete in us. We can know that we are living in him and he is living in us because he lets us share his Spirit” (1 Jn 4:12-13).
This gradual unfolding of her faith in the Lord should therefore be a source of encouragement as we grow in faith — both on the interpersonal level of trust and through a deepening understanding of His identity as God. Growing in faith is a process, and we never fully arrive until we meet Christ face-to-face in heaven, where there are no more questions to ask. We must therefore also follow the example of Mary, who would sit at the feet of Jesus listening to Him, contemplating His love and message, and remaining in quiet trust in the Lord. Without this foundation, our witness will be weak, lacking conviction and stability.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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