John 11:20-44

The resurrection gives powerful attestation to the authority and Lordship of Christ (John 2).  The resurrection brings clarity to Jesus’ disciples that they must follow Christ to the cross (Luke 9).  These themes will be central to the writings of the Apostles.  So also will the theme of today’s passage.  The resurrection of Christ is the crucial issue in the hope of God’s people.  By His resurrection our Lord has conquered death, the last enemy.

What a powerful setting for this truth to be displayed.  Jesus purposely stayed away until Lazarus was dead.  As both Martha and Mary said, Christ could have healed his friend.  It was well known in Israel that this Jesus had miraculous power to heal.  But the identical statements of the sisters (Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died) indicates the heartache they had experienced in the days leading to Lazarus’ death.  “If only Jesus were here.  Where is He?  Did He not get word about His friend?”  Which of us is not familiar with that kind of desperation?  The person who can fix our problem is not around.  And when they do come, they have come too late.

What did Martha mean in saying, But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give you?  She confesses Him to be the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.  But what did that mean to her?  Perhaps she thinks that, as God’s Son, Jesus can ask and God will bring Lazarus back to life.  But if that is what she meant, it is an inadequate view of Christ.  

What Martha apparently does not understand is that Jesus, as the great I AM, is in fact the resurrection and the life.  He tells Martha her brother will rise again.  But He is not simply calling her to believe that He can raise the dead which He will do (John 5:24-25).  Nor is He calling her to believe that His Father will answer His prayer to raise Lazarus, though a prayer will be involved (v41-42).  He is calling her to believe that He, Jesus of Nazareth, IS the Great I AM, Yahweh who has come in the flesh.  

The Jews themselves correctly understood that this was the claim of Christ (John 8:58-59).  As John, by the Holy Spirit, included seven great miracles to demonstrate the deity of Christ, so he also recorded seven “I AM” claims of Christ (John 6:35; 8:12; 10:9,11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1).  They ascribe to Him perfections that belong only to God.  And such is the case here.  He does not say “I can raise your brother” or “I will ask the Father to enable me to raise your brother.”  He says, I AM the resurrection and the life.

Perhaps this is why Martha, but not Mary, received this encouragement from our Lord, though they made the same statements.  Mary already knew Jesus as the object of her faith and worship (Jn. 12:3; Luke 10:38-42).  Those whose hope is the One who is the resurrection and life never come to a situation in life that is the “bitter end”.  They will always know: though I die, yet shall I live!