I Am the Resurrection

Lazarus had been dead four days. If you have ever sat in a hospital waiting room and heard the doctor come through the door with that look on his face, you know something of what Martha and Mary felt. They had sent word to Jesus when their brother got sick. And Jesus did not come in time.

When Martha heard Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him. Mary stayed home. People grieve differently, and both sisters will meet Jesus in their own way. But Martha goes first, and she does not hide what she feels. “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

That is an honest sentence. There is pain in it. Maybe there is even a little accusation in it. And Jesus does not rebuke her for it. You are allowed to bring your grief to Jesus unfiltered. The Psalms are full of people doing exactly that. Faith is not pretending it does not hurt. Faith is bringing the hurt to Him.

But Martha keeps going. “But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.” Even now. Those are two of the bravest words in the Bible. Even now, with the funeral over. Even now, with the tomb sealed. Even now, when it looks like You were late. Martha did not understand everything, but she still trusted Jesus.

Jesus tells her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha gives the right Sunday school answer. “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” She believed in a future resurrection. That was real faith. But it was faith in an event far away, and her grief was right here.

Then Jesus says it. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” Do you see what He did? He took the resurrection out of the distant future and put it in front of her in a Person. Resurrection is not just something that will happen. It is Someone who is standing in front of you. The hope of the last day has a face and a name.

Then He asks the question He asks every one of us. “Do you believe this?” Not, do you understand it all. Not, do you feel it all. Do you believe it? And Martha answers, “Yes, Lord,” and then, “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” That is one of the great confessions of faith in the whole Bible, spoken by a grieving woman on a dusty road.

A few verses later Jesus will call Lazarus out of the grave. And a few weeks later Jesus Himself will be laid in a tomb and walk out of it on the third day. That is why this is not wishful thinking. The One who said, I am the resurrection, proved it with His own empty grave. If you belong to Him, death is not the last word over you or over the believers you have buried.

Maybe you are carrying a loss this morning. Maybe it feels like Jesus came too late. Tell Him so. Then hear Him ask you the question He asked Martha. Do you believe this? Say, even now, Lord. Yes. Then walk into this day as someone who knows how the story ends. The tomb is not the last chapter for those who belong to Jesus. He is.