In the New Testament where Resurrection stands at the heart of our faith, death is an affront to faith which compels the survivors to ask ‘why.’ The story of Lazarus (John 11) brings Martha, Mary and Jesus back together.  Often Martha’s words in v.21 are taken as an affirmation of her faith in Jesus, but reread the verse and place affliction in her soul – I think it is not misplaced. Mary is weeping and even Jesus is “deeply disturbed in spirit and troubled…giving a sigh that came right from the heart” (vv.33, 38).  All are plunged into a new depth of suffering, an experience of abandonment – Martha: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died” (v.21).  Is this not the same sense of abandonment Jesus experiences on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matt 27:46). “It is not only the body of Christ, hanging on the wood, that was accursed; it was his whole soul also. In the same way every innocent being in his affliction feels himself accursed.” [Wiel, Waiting for God, 122]  Every grieving heart demands to know why we suffer, why we can be accursed. The inability to explain suffering is the gateway itself into the depth of affliction. The story of Lazarus also asks us to stop and see who shares our affliction – it does not offer us an avenue around or away from death, but asks to see the promise of Resurrection and who stands with us in death and beyond. Continue reading →