In my opinion, one of the funniest shows on TV today, is the Emmy-award-winning series, Monk.  And just in case you think that this is a TV show about a religious brother or priest, the TV show follows the adventures of a private detective named Adrian Monk, who is a former policeman, who just so happens to O.C.D. – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  On the surface, it may seem that the show gets a lot of laughs out of making fun of people with the disorder.  But in reality, the show has made a lot more people aware of how many folks suffer from this disorder.  In my mind, we’re all a little O.C.D.   Some of us, myself included, are a little more O.C.D. than others.  People with O.C.D., like Adrian Monk, are desperately trying to control their worlds.  They order things.  They count things.  They clean and try to live safe, secure, and danger-free lives by structuring and ordering their lives in ways that they can control.  It may be fun to watch Monk on TV.  But there’s not too much fun about the disorder.  People with O.C.D., like the rest of us, have to come to realize that we are not in control.  We are not God. We are not calling the shots.

That’s a hard realization to come to for many people.

      Take Lazarus’ sister, Martha, for example. When you passed through the doorway of that old house in Bethany, you entered Martha’s world.  Personally, I think Martha was more than a little O.C.D. herself.  Nearly all of her years had been spent beneath that roof.  There at the hearth, Martha knew who she was, and there she was content.  It was her world, her domain.  She felt at home in her apron and happy in her housework.  Making beds, baking bread, trimming lamps, bringing in water from the well, sweeping floors and getting ready for company.  Martha delighted in all of these common tasks.  It was where the world made sense to her.  It was where she was in charge.

      So down through the years, although her sister Mary and her brother, Lazarus lived there too, in that Bethany neighborhood, the little cottage came to be known as “Martha’s place”.   And very early on in His ministry even Jesus discovered the Faith and the friendship that would always wait upon Him there.  Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were Jesus’ closest friends.  It was a special relationship.  It wasn’t like with His family or with the Apostles, or with the multitudes, Jesus could go to Martha’s place and just relax.  He could take His sandals off.  Martha let Jesus enter her world, and her domain, and she took care of Him.

       Martha had come to a deep and abiding faith in Jesus the Christ. Her life had been changed by His friendship.  And yet, there was much that she didn’t understand about Him and His way.  It was not her way to press and probe.  But sometimes, in the stillness, she sensed that she had not yet uncovered the whole truth about Him.  She had questions about life and death that must be answered one day, but for Martha, it was enough to wait and serve Jesus as she knew how to do.  Martha trusted in the person of Jesus -  “I know God will give you whatever YOU ask.”  Hers was a simple Faith that manifested itself in a service of simplicity.

       All of this changed when Lazarus died.  Martha’s world, that world that she controlled so completely, came crashing down around her.  Her brother was dead.  Where was their miracle-working friend, when they needed Him?  Jesus had cured so many other people, why couldn’t He have done something for her brother?  Martha was angry.  They had sent for Jesus.  She knew how long it would have taken for Jesus to get there.  Why did Jesus delay for two days?  Didn’t He care?   And all of a sudden, Martha had a million questions. She was grief-stricken.  She was confused.   And all her hard work, her hospitality, her clean house, and her delicious meals, couldn’t bring her brother back from the dead.

      I think that each of us here today can relate to what Martha was feeling at that time.  We’ve lost people that we love. We know how horrible of a feeling that is, that she is experiencing.  There are those of us here today, right here and right now, who are grieving the loss of people that they dearly love.  There are others here who are trying to pick-up the pieces after a messy divorce.  There are still others who are praying with us right here who are worried sick about their kids and what they’re into.  We have all been through our own terrible experiences of pain, and loss, and frustration, and even anger.  And like Martha, how many times have we asked “WHY?”  “Where are you, O Lord?”   “Don’t you care?”

     The Good News for us today, my brothers and sisters, is that just as Martha found out, we do have a God Who cares.  God offers us all resurrection.  Not just after we die, but right now, God offers us the ability to be lifted up and out of, all of those things that are dragging us down, as we come here today.  The trick is, that resurrection is going to be on God’s terms, and not our own.  If we are struggling with all of our might and our energy, to accomplish our own resurrections, it’s not going to happen.  Martha had to give up control, in order to let Jesus raise her brother from the dead.  We are NOT in charge of our lives.  And no matter how O.C.D. we might be, we do not have a God that is just going to show up when we want Him to, and do exactly as we want Him to do.  It doesn’t work that way.  He’s got to be the Lord!   He’s got to be the One in charge, not us!   Martha had to leave the comfort of her kitchen, and all those things that she knew that she could do, to trust the Lord to do all of those things that she couldn’t do.  And so do we.   

        God’s got to be the One in charge.  Adrian Monk will never be able to control his life, no matter how hard he tries, and neither will you or I.  Martha was NOT in charge.  And we aren’t either.  Hopefully, it doesn’t take somebody dying to teach us that.  In good times or bad, let us trust Him, and He will bring us all, resurrection.

May God bless us in these final couple of weeks of our Lenten season,  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti…Pray for us !!!