Scriptures: John 11:17-37
I Am the Resurrection and the Life
John 11:17-27
So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away. 19 Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. 20 Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.
21 Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22 Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. 26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”
Jesus Weeps
John 11:28-37
When she had said this, she went away, and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here, and is calling you.”
29 When she heard this, she arose quickly, and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him.
31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”
32 Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.
36 The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!”
37 Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”
I see in this passage belief mixed with confusion on one hand, and unbelief on the other.
“Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” (Martha)
“Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” (Mary)
Both Mary and Martha believed that Jesus could perform miracles, but they we limited to their human understand of what the miracles could be. Here they were now in a hopeless situation (Lazarus had been dead for 4 days), which seemed to them beyond a miracle.
Even when Jesus said to Martha that her brother would rise, and that He was the resurrection and the life, she didn’t comprehend what He meant. She didn’t expect a miracle that very day.
In response to the situation, Jesus was sorrowful and wept. To some that would seem that Jesus saw the hopeless situation. When the Jewish comforters saw how much Jesus loved Lazarus, expressed their unbelief.
“Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”