Mary, Martha, and Jesus

Jesus seems to take the difference between the attitudes of the two sisters all in stride. He knows them well. He takes each one where she is, as she is. And that’s the first lesson on friendship that I draw from this Gospel story. Being a friend means accepting the other person as they are, where they are, and not trying to change them.

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Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Jesus

Sometimes, in any friendship, we get into patterns of relating, and acting in expected ways, just because that’s the way we’ve always done things. Sometimes, it’s great to know that we can rely on friends to act in expected ways—there’s a comfort in that. But sometimes, we need to let our friends out of the boxes into which we’ve placed them. We need to allow our friends to surprise us—or to surprise themselves!

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Peter, Andrew, James, and John

Andrew and Simon, James and John knew how and where to catch fish-- and Jesus sensed that they would take the bait and accept his challenge, that they had the skills of reading the signs and of storytelling, of working as interdependent crews, that would make them fishers of people—evangelists.

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Mary and Elizabeth

Every family needs support. And it doesn’t matter what your family looks like—whether it has one parent involved, or two, whether there are two children or six or none at all, whether there are birth parents or foster or adoptive parents, or any other configuration—every family needs support.

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Jesus and John

John leaned on Jesus’ breast to comfort Him during the last supper. He was the only disciple who didn’t desert Jesus at the trial before Pilate, and at the foot of the Cross. John was so loved by His Master that Jesus entrusted His aging mother into John’s care. John was there when it really mattered. Friends are like that.

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