For All in Need of Resurrection
Resurrection is at the heart of our Christian faith. And resurrection isn’t just a doctrine, it’s a person.
“Jesus said… ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’” (John 11:25)
He spoke these words in the middle of an encounter that is pivotal in the Gospel of John: the raising of Lazarus. As I’ve studied this story over the past few days, I’ve come to believe it is not just a story about a resurrection, but a story about multiple resurrections.
At the beginning of the story, we learn that a man named Lazarus is sick. He and his sisters, Mary and Martha, were in Jesus’ friendship circle. And so, with their brother lying on his deathbed, the sisters send word to Jesus: “Lord, the one you love is sick.” (John 11:3) No doubt, it was a subtle request for Jesus to come heal their brother as they’d seen him heal others before.
A curious detail in the story is that Jesus waits two days before setting off for their home. John tells us straight up that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5), so I don’t think we should read indifference or callousness into his delay. God is love. The question we should be asking is: “How did this seemingly absurd delay end up displaying the loving heart of Jesus?”
I wonder if Jesus didn’t hurry because he knew that every person in this story needed a resurrection.
But, that’s getting ahead of ourselves. The reality is that even if Jesus had left immediately, Lazarus would still have been dead upon his arrival. Jesus’ journey took him from one town called Bethany to another. The distance between “Bethany on the other side of the Jordan” (John 1:28, John 10:40) to Bethany where the three siblings lived (John 11:1) was about 20 miles, considered a day’s journey by foot. By the time Jesus arrived, presumably after two days of waiting and one day of walking, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days (John 11:17). That means Lazarus likely died shortly after Mary and Martha sent the message to Jesus that their brother was sick.
When Jesus does arrive, the first person he encounters is Martha, who had gone out to meet him on the road.
“‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.’” (John 11:21-22)
Some people hear in Martha’s words an accusation and a request. I don’t really think it is either. I think Martha’s words are an affirmation of her faith in Jesus. As I said, Lazarus likely died before it would have been humanly possible for Jesus to get there. Martha isn’t accusing him of indifference. Her statement, “If you had been here…” is a statement of faith in Jesus’ power, in what could have happened had he been around. The follow up, “Even now…” is an affirmation of that faith. Despite her sorrow that Jesus wasn’t there to save her brother, she still believes in his power.
However, she doesn’t believe in it enough to be asking for a resurrection. A little later in the story she’ll protest when Jesus wants to unseal Lazarus’ tomb because of the stench of the decomposing body. I love the way the old King James Version of the Bible translates her objection: “Lord, by this time he stinketh!” (John 11:39) Martha wasn’t asking Jesus to raise her brother to life. She had no thought of a resurrection.
To me, Martha represents the person who is determined to stand strong in the face of life’s tragedies. If she walked among us today, she would be the person everyone admires who has faced a few personal challenges and heartbreaks, but has clung to her faith in the middle of them. And yet, beneath those layers of strength there is a loss of hope for the present.
Jesus says to Martha: “Your brother will rise again,” and she replies, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” (John 11:23-24) Nothing has shaken her ultimate hope, but perhaps she has numbed her heart from expecting to see the goodness of God in the present.
It can be easier that way for Martha-types. Keep your expectations low. Don’t hope for too much. Play it safe so that your heart is safe. Keep trusting in Jesus for the future, but don’t expect too much of him in the present.
I think Jesus looked at Martha and knew she needed a resurrection.
Jesus has to ask to see Mary. When the news of his arrival came to the sisters, Martha ran to meet him, but Mary stayed home. Perhaps her despair had made it hard to get out of bed in the morning? However, when Jesus calls for her, she does get up and rush to him.
“When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’” (John 11:32)
Like Martha, Mary believes in Jesus. Unlike Martha, Mary makes no attempt to put a brave face on her sorrow.
To me, Mary represents the person who is tenderhearted and feels deeply. It’s not just their own sorrows that get to them; it’s the sorrows of the world. Every story on the news cuts deep into their heart. It’s hard not to despair.
Jesus doesn’t offer Mary theological truth like he offered Martha; he offers her his tears.
“When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked. ‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied. Jesus wept.” (John 11:33-35)
I think Jesus looked at Mary and knew she needed a resurrection.
And so, they make their way to the tomb, and Jesus asks for the stone laid across the entrance to be rolled away. He looks to the heavens and in a loud voice cries out:
“Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:43)
The dead man stirs awake and stumbles out of the dark tomb into the light of life, and there is great rejoicing!
The irony is that the celebrating crowd has no idea that Lazarus’ resurrection will lead to Jesus’ death. It is the final straw that convinced those with power that Jesus was too big of a threat.
But that will be tomorrow’s trouble. On this day there is great rejoicing for Lazarus was dead, but is now alive! He was resurrected!
And I think Martha and Mary were resurrected too.
For as Lazarus breathed fresh breaths, the future burst into the present. The end of time arrived into the middle of time. Jesus became not just our hope for the future, but our hope for the present. Scholar NT Wright says: “Jesus has not just come, as we sometimes say or sing, ‘from heaven to earth’; it is equally true to say that he has come from God’s future into the present, into the mess and muddle of the world we know. ‘I am the resurrection and the life,’ he says. ‘Resurrection’ isn’t just a doctrine. It isn’t just a future fact. It’s a person…” (John for Everyone: Part 2)
As we prepare to celebrate Easter this coming weekend, perhaps you, too, are in need of a resurrection?
My prayer is that you would breathe fresh breaths of Jesus’ presence, fresh breaths of Jesus’ goodness, fresh breaths of Jesus’ power.
Hear Jesus’ voice as he declares:
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)
In Jesus, you have hope not just for tomorrow, but for today.
So, let him resurrect you this Easter season. For our Jesus is alive!
