Lazarus lay dead in the grave several days before Jesus showed up. A big reveal in mind, Jesus loitered along the way. But after he arrived it didn’t take long for the place to erupt.

Martha, Lazarus’s sister, ran out to meet Jesus. She looked to Jesus for comfort in this time of pain. Jesus told her, Your brother will rise again. Martha agreed—I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Martha believed that all who follow the Lord will resurrect someday in the future. To her first hearing, Jesus’s words brought a bit of consolation, like we might say, someday you’ll meet him again in a better place.

But Jesus didn’t mean someday, he meant today. He told Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?

The one who resurrects looked into Martha’s eyes. Then Jesus moved to the tomb and gave a hint of his power, a foretaste of what’s to come, by calling for Lazarus. Resurrected, Lazarus staggered out to the joy and confusion and fear of the crowd.

Martha stood between her brother peeling burial shrouds off his face and a laughing God in the flesh. What a moment to be alive. The lightning bolt of Jesus seared her life and she worshipped.

Jesus is still the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in Jesus live, even though we all eventually die, and his question is still appropriate:

Do you believe this?

John 11 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Tony L