« Do you believe this? »

The other evening I followed a debate between the philosopher Michel Onfray and historians of Christianity. Onfray has just written a provocative book in which he claims that Jesus only existed in the imagination of his disciples. He is an atheist, he says, but all he does is think about Jesus! « Who do you say that I am? » was Jesus’ question to his disciples. Throughout history he has continued to ask it, and he asks it of each of us today. He asked a similar question of Martha, one of his disciples, when he told her that he was the resurrection and the life: « Do you believe this? »

What faith dwells within us? This is undoubtedly one of the most important questions. It was already present among the Jewish people.

Let us begin, then, with the fundamental confession of faith of Judaism: « Listen, Israel: The Lord our God is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being and with all your strength » (Deuteronomy 6:4ff). This is the fundamental confession of faith of Judaism, valid to this day.

Since Moses, believing Jews have said these words everywhere, at all times and to everyone, especially to their children and their children’s children.

We must have them on our lips, write them on our houses and, above all, have them in our hearts. A believing Jew wants to leave this world saying these words.

What is the faith in which we want to live and die?

And what is the confession of faith to which we want to bear constant witness everywhere? A confession of faith that we want to write on our houses, and pass on to our children and our children’s children?

A faith that we cherish « more than all the treasures in our hearts. More than father and mother, brothers and children. More than home and work. More than our soul » (C. Lubich)? A faith for which we would be prepared to die if it were required of us!

To answer this question, we need to listen to what Jesus has to say on the subject:

« One day a Scripture scholar… asked Jesus, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied: ‘This is the first: ’Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind and with all your strength. » And here is the second: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’There is no other commandment more important than these two.« 

It is interesting that Jesus takes up again the confession of faith revealed to Moses: The Lord is one, the only Lord. He is to be loved with all your heart and with all your mind. What’s more, Jesus revealed to us that God is love, living in a communion of love between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Crucially, Jesus added to love for God that we must love our neighbour as ourselves.

For Jesus, believing and loving go together. He never set them against each other.

Loving God means loving your neighbour. And to have the strength to love our neighbour, we must love God and put him first. Then he will give us the strength of his Spirit of love.

Do you believe this?

Let’s turn to the Gospel text!

Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, has died and his sister Martha goes to meet Jesus to express her sadness, but also her trust. Jesus said to her: « Your brother will rise again« . Martha understood this as a promise that Lazarus would rise again at the end of time, when God would raise all humanity.

But Jesus goes further: he says to Martha, « I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even if he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? –Yes, Lord,’ she said, ’I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world. » (John 11:25-27)

‘ Do you believe this ’, Jesus asks?

This is the question we are also being asked during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which begins at the end of this week.

Do we believe that Jesus rose from the dead and that he is the « resurrection and the life »?

Martha’s answer is unequivocal: not only does she believe it, but she adds that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. Martha’s faith is great because she believes that Jesus has the power to raise her brother from the dead even before Jesus raises him from the dead.

She believed without seeing, and this faith filled her with light. When Lazarus was risen, her faith was confirmed and the inner light that dwelt in her was multiplied.

The resurrection of her brother Lazarus will be proof that Jesus speaks the truth and keeps his promises. We too can fully trust in him. And an inner light will illuminate our whole lives, intensifying as we remain faithful to this faith.

In this passage, the divinity of Jesus is strongly affirmed. He is ‘the resurrection and the life’. And only God can raise the dead. Jesus is therefore identified with God.

But his humanity is also affirmed just as strongly. We are told that ‘Jesus wept’. This is the shortest verse in the whole Bible! (11,35). Jesus is ‘true God and true man’, as the Fathers of the Church would say. As a man, Jesus is close to us when we suffer. But as God, he knows and can do all things!

For Martha, this faith that she confesses will become the life of her life, more precious than anything else. From now on, the meaning of her life was this communion with Jesus that nothing could destroy, nor life, nor death, nor any power.

« Jesus proclaimed, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ (John 11:25) and the faith he asked of Martha lay in a personal relationship with him and active and dynamic adherence. Believing is not like accepting a contract that you sign once and then never look at again, but it is something that transforms and permeates your daily life ». (Word of Life, January 2025)

Like Martha, the first Christians had their hearts pierced when Jesus met them after his resurrection. They understood that he is the resurrection and the life, and that we can have complete confidence in his words.

They too sought to give an answer to Jesus’ question: « Do you believe this? » And they answered with the gift of their lives. All the apostles, except John, experienced the martyrdom of blood, because of the hatred provoked by their faith!

Two criteria for discernment: faith and works

Take, for example, this reading from the first letter of John (2:21-29).

This year, the « School of the Word » is taking a closer look at this profound letter, with a brochure entitled ‘A great step for humanity’.

For John, saying « I believe in God » immediately implies a consequence, that of loving one another.

John is confronted with people who seek to lead the community astray in two ways. There are those who claim that Jesus is not the Messiah, nor the Son of God. And others who think that it doesn’t matter how we behave.

For him, being a Christian means two things:

– Firstly, confessing that Jesus is both true man and true God. By his death, he reconciled us with God. And by his resurrection he is now with us every day. It is a matter of « keeping what you have heard from the beginning » (2:24).

– Then our faith must be translated into just and loving behaviour: we must practise justice as Christ is just, and love our brothers and sisters: « A person who does not do what is right or who does not love his brother or sister does not belong to God » (2,29; 3,10).

So there are two main criteria for discernment: Faith and works.

John stresses the importance of both confessing our faith and practicing justice, because it is by our works, by the way we relate to one another in justice, respect and love, that we recognize the true disciples of Jesus.

To sum up, John warns us against two kinds of people who can lead us astray. These are within the Christian community, not outsiders. And this warning is still relevant today.

First, there are those who lead believers astray by teaching false doctrines, such as rejecting the mystery of God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ: « Who then is the liar? It is the one who declares that Jesus is not the Christ… and who rejects the Son » (2,22).

Then there are those who do not practice justice: « Anyone who does not do what is right, or who does not love his brother or sister, does not belong to God » (3:10).

John combines the first and second commandments. The two are inseparable: loving God means loving your neighbor. Confessing faith in Jesus, true God and true man, son of the Father and second person of the Trinity, means meeting him, loving him and serving him in our neighbor.

From 2025 to 2033

As you know, I’m working with the JC2033 initiative, which invites all the Churches to work together to prepare for the 2000th anniversary of the resurrection of Jesus Christ on 17 April 2033. I’ve been involved for 8 years and 3 months. Now, with just a few days to go, there are still 8 years and 3 months to go until Easter 2033.

So I’m halfway through this commitment, which has broadened my heart and my experience! May Christ give us perseverance, enlighten us and open doors for us!

His promise is that everyone will hear about his resurrection during this year 2033. And we are working hard to ensure that everyone hears in their own language the joyful Easter greeting: « Christ is risen! He is truly risen ». And this in the more than 7,500 languages that make up humanity!

This year, 2025, is an important step towards 2033. And why is that?

– Firstly, because the date of Easter is common to all the Churches, unlike last year, when more than a month separated our date of Easter from that of the Orthodox Churches.

– The year 2025 also marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which defended faith in Christ as « true God and true man » against the heresy of the priest Arius, who denied the divinity of Jesus.

The « Easter together 2025 » initiative

With this horizon in mind, we (i.e. JC2033) were invited to take part in the « Easter together 2025 » initiative, which is supported by four movements: the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy, the Focolare Movement, the Together for Europe network and JC2033.

Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants and Evangelicals are all on board.

The aim of this year’s initiative is to highlight the fact that Easter and the resurrection of Christ are at the heart of the Christian faith. And secondly, that faith in Jesus as ‘true God and true man’ and in the Trinity is common to all the Churches throughout the world.

Together, we will be better able to resist the many theories about the person of Jesus that lead many believers astray, and we will also be better able to bear witness to the hope that dwells within us, namely that Christ is ‘the resurrection and the life’ and will give eternal life to those who put their trust in him.

The heart of the ‘Easter Together 2025’ Declaration reads:

‘Today we are called to highlight the cross and resurrection of Jesus as the centre of our faith’.

Here are a few steps:

– An initial meeting at the Orthodox Academy of Crete

– An online seminar on the Council of Nicaea in February 2024. It was a great success, with over 500 hits!

– Visits to various church leaders : Jerry Pillay, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches; Thomas Schirrmacher, General Secretary (now emeritus) of the World Evangelical Alliance; Patriarch Bartholomew, Primate of the Orthodox Church; and Pope Francis at the Vatican.

All these leaders – and many more – gave the same answer as Martha to Jesus‘ question « Do you believe this« ? We discovered that they all believe in Jesus, the dead and risen Messiah, our Lord and our God. He is the one who unites us in the same faith.

At the end of our meeting, I was able to greet Pope Francis personally. I told him that we were praying for him and for the road leading from 2025 to 2033, and that all Christians would be able to celebrate Christ’s resurrection together at Easter 2033 and bear witness to it!

He replied: « Adiamo avanti, sono d’accordo« . « Let’s move forward, I agree!« 

During this year we’ll be visiting other church leaders. That’s why I’ll be going to Jerusalem and visit leaders with the other members of this initiative.

We will continue to call on leaders to put Jesus, the risen one, true God and true man, at the centre of everything, and to overcome divisions, particularly the division over the date of Easter.

At the end of February, we are organising an international gathering in Geneva. You’re welcome to take part, in whole or in part!

It will be an opportunity to encourage and strengthen us in our common faith in Jesus Christ, the one who unites us when we are so different in our cultures, our Churches and our social and political situations.

Nearly 2000 years ago, Jesus asked Martha: « I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe that? » And she answered « Yes, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God’ »

1700 years ago, the Fathers gathered at Nicaea found other words to restate the truth of the divinity and humanity of Jesus, against a heresy that denied it and never ceased to resurface.

Today, with Christians throughout the world, we are called to answer this same question « Do you believe this? » And to bear witness together to our faith in the resurrection of Jesus, which is the source of our joy and our hope.