Daily Reading for July 29 • Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany
Taking pity on the tears of Mary and Martha,
Thou has said to them:
“He will be resurrected and he will rise up
Saying, ‘Thou art the Life and Resurrection.’”
In considering the tomb and those in the tomb, we weep,
But we should not; for we do not know whence they have come,
And where they are now, and who has them.
They have come from temporal life, released from its sorrows;
They are at peace, waiting for the receiving of divine light.
The Lover of man has them in His charge,
and He has divested them of their temporal clothing
in order that He may clothe them with an eternal body.
Why, then, do we weep in vain? Why do we not trust Christ, as He cries:
“He who believes on me shall not perish,
For even if he knows corruption, after that corruption,
He will be resurrected and he will rise up
Saying, ‘Thou art the Life and the Resurrection’”?
The man of faith always has power for whatever he wishes,
Since he possesses a faith which lends strength to all things;
From it, he gains power from Christ for whatever he asks.
This faith is a great possession; if a man have it, he has control of everything.
Mary and Martha had it and were renowned for it.
From Kontakion on the Raising of Lazarus 14.1-2, quoted in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament IVb, John 11-21, edited by Joel C. Elowsky (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2007).