John 11:23-27: a reflection

23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. 26Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”

When Jesus comes to the grieving Martha, whose brother Lazarus has died, he tells her, Your brother will rise again. Martha affirms the future hope: I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. But Jesus draws her from a distant doctrine to himself, present with her now: I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. And then the personal question: Do you believe this?

Notice what Jesus reveals: that resurrection and life are not merely a future event but a present Person, himself. Martha believed in a resurrection at the last day, a doctrine, a future hope. Jesus points her to something more immediate and personal: I am the resurrection and the life. Resurrection is not just something that will happen; it is someone who is standing before her. Because he is the resurrection and the life, death does not have the final word for those who belong to him; they will live, even though they die.

That truth, and that question, come to us as they came to Martha. Jesus is himself the resurrection and the life, so that for those who believe in him, death is not the end. And he asks each of us the personal question he asked her: Do you believe this? It is not enough to believe in a distant doctrine of resurrection; the question is whether we believe in him, the risen Lord who is himself resurrection and life. Hear his question, and answer it as Martha did: Yes, Lord, I believe. Rest your hope not in an abstract doctrine but in the living Christ, who is the resurrection and the life, and in whom death is not the end.

Lord Jesus, to the grieving Martha you said, I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live; and you asked her, Do you believe this? Thank you that resurrection and life are not merely a future event but a present Person, yourself. Because you are the resurrection and the life, death does not have the final word for those who belong to you. When I grieve, or face death, my own or that of those I love, draw me from a distant doctrine to you, the living Christ. And press on me your question: Do you believe this? Help me answer as Martha did: Yes, Lord, I believe. Let me rest my hope not in an abstract idea but in you, the resurrection and the life, in whom death is not the end.