Set Apart
Jul 29: Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus
Our beliefs set us apart from the world, not above it. We still have to participate in daily life, as an example of Christ’s light. Maybe, eventually, we won’t be apart, once we’ve brought everyone to Jesus’ side.
Reading 1
Ex 24:3-8
When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all answered with one voice, "We will do everything that the LORD has told us."
Moses then wrote down all the words of the LORD and, rising early the next day, he erected at the foot of the mountain an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then, having sent certain young men of the children of Israel to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD, Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar. Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, "All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do."
Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words of his."
The blood sacrifice and the stone pillars are vestiges of the polytheistic cultures surrounding the Israelites. Jacob erected a pillar after seeing the stairway to heaven,1 but in one of the 613 mitzvot we skipped since yesterday,2 God commanded: “You shall not bow down to their gods and serve them, nor shall you act as they do; rather, you must demolish them and smash their sacred stones.”
Similarly with the blood sacrifice. Splashing the gathered Israelites is similar to what they did at Passover, but going forward, these sorts of ceremonies will become limited. Unlike the pagans around them, who continue human sacrifice.
The Lord wants to separate the Jews from those around them, to make them holy and prepare the way for His only Son. They’re different.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 50:1b-2, 5-6, 14-15
R. Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
God the LORD has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
R. Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
"Gather my faithful ones before me,
those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
And the heavens proclaim his justice;
for God himself is the judge.
R. Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
"Offer to God praise as your sacrifice
and fulfill your vows to the Most High;
Then call upon me in time of distress;
I will rescue you, and you shall glorify me."
R. Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
This psalm is a reminder of the Jewish covenant with God. God rescued them from Egypt, and they owe Him praise and sacrifice.
In fact, we a sacrifice of praise. God isn’t super impressed by animal sacrifice; He wants us. He wants our hearts, which is where true worship comes from.
Alleluia
Jn 8:12
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus guides us from this life to the next. We couldn’t see our way without Him.
Gospel
Jn 11:19-27
Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died]. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you."
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise."
Martha said to him, "I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day."
Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world."
Way back in March, we heard the full story of Lazarus, the longest narrative in John outside of the Passion itself. Here, we get just a part of it, focusing on Martha.
She keeps her faith, in the worst time in her life, the death of her brother. She believes in the resurrection on the last day. “Shall never die” is a weird translation. It’s probably more accurately understood as “shall not die forever.” In other words, those who believe will have eternal life in heaven.