Scripture Daily

Context No. 3647 of 4322 · John

Context · Reflection

John 11:38-43: in context

38Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?” 41So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. 42I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

At Lazarus's tomb, Jesus commands, take away the stone. Martha objects with grim realism: Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days. But Jesus answers, did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?

And after praying aloud so the crowd would know the Father had sent him, he cries with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out! And the dead man comes out. There is glory here for those who will believe. Martha saw only the impossibility, four days dead, decay already begun; Jesus called her to believe and to see the glory of God instead. Faith does not deny the reality of death and decay; it looks straight past them to the power of God, who can bring life even out of the tomb. And Jesus, who is himself the resurrection and the life, speaks a word that even the four-days-dead must obey. Where we see only impossibility and death, Jesus calls us to believe and to see the glory of God.

When I face situations that seem as hopeless and final as a four-days-dead tomb, do I believe past the impossibility to see the glory of God, who can call life out of death?

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