The parousia according to Martha

 The Parousia according to Martha

By Richard P. Joseph

    We are all familiar with the story of Lazarus and his two sisters in the gospel of John.  Apparently, Jesus loved this family and they worshiped him.  I am discovering that this obscure family is more theologically important than what we have imagined.  The few times that they are mentioned seems insignificant compared to their impact on our understanding of Jesus and his mission.  

We are introduced to this family in John 11 but obviously they have been friends and followers of Jesus for a while.  We know that the sisters sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was sick and near death.  Jesus seemed to take his time getting there on purpose so that there would be no doubt about what was going to transpire.  When Jesus finally arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for 4 days.  It was Martha that got word of his arrival and dutifully ran out to meet him.   Then Martha said; “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 then told her that her brother would rise again and Martha responded by saying; “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Apparently, Martha had a very clear understanding of eschatology and the approaching historical events that were about to occur.  But before we discuss that, I would like to present a few other major events that came from this simple family.  First of all, they might not be as simple as we thought as some have suggested that Lazarus was actually “John Eleazar” or John Lazarus, the writer of the gospel of John, the three epistles and Revelation but I can’t prove that as correct or not but there are some good arguments for it.  The events that took place that day caused the Sanhedrin to meet and condemn Jesus to death, the dinner shortly after caused Judas to finally decide to betray Jesus, the eyewitnesses of Lazarus’ raising would become vocal advocates for Christ, and Mary’s story would be told for all eternity.  But back to the storyline.

    Jesus then confirmed that he was the resurrection and the life.  Martha confirmed that she understood that Jesus was the Christ.  She then went back to the house and got Mary who, upon seeing Jesus, fell at his feet.  You can always find Mary at the feet of Jesus.  She was at his feet later when she anointed him and caused Judas Iscariot to go apoplectic and made his final decision to betray Christ.  When Mary came it caused Jesus to weep and groan.  As they approached the tomb and began to understand that Jesus meant to raise him, Martha informed him that her brother was rotting by now.  If she understood a lot, she, like all of us, really doesn't know how powerful our God really is.  Jesus then called Lazarus out of the tomb which caused a domino of effects that lead to the cross and the empty tomb of Jesus.  This also brings up another topic, eschatology.

    The Jews usually talked about two separate ages; the present age (the Mosaic age, and the age to come; the Messianic age).  In Luke 18 Jesus uses this same language;  30 who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”  According to the timeline in Revelation and other places there was about to be a tribulation period in which the Christians would suffer loss, followed by a period of wrath which would be poured out on the unbelievers.  These two periods would be divided by a resurrection and a rapture.  Josephus gives an account which I believe clearly demonstrates the exact time that this took place.  He tells that on the evening of Pentecost (AD66) as the priests were fulfilling their duties in the temple they experienced an earthquake then heard a multitude of souls under the temple shouting “let us remove hence”.   This would have been right between the tribulation and the wrath.  This is what I believe to be the exact day of the end of the “age” and this seems to be exactly what Martha was referring to.  Notice she used a single “day” to describe that her brother would rise on the last day.  If Jesus did not raise Lazarus from the dead he would have been raised on this “last day”.  Also notice that Martha said “at” the last day instead of “on” the last day.  The Greek word en denotes a fixed position in time as if she fully understood this as, not an arbitrary event, but rather a predestined event at an exact moment in time.   This means that Martha had an exceptional  understanding of the eschatological events that were about to occur.  It almost seems like she understood things better than the apostles.  The last day of the Mosaic economy was the first day of the Parousia (visitation or commonly referred to as the second coming) which lasted another 3 ½ years.