John 11:23-27 (NIV)
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
Initially, Martha’s belief in what was possible for Jesus to do was limited by the teaching she had received, and by her mere humanness. Jesus’ word that her brother would rise again shifted the discussion in her mind to the end of time when all would rise. On that day, somewhere in the misty future, she would see Lazarus again.
But Jesus was not talking about the last day. He was talking about that day. Even though He was into His fourth year of public ministry among the people of Israel, they still had no idea who He really was, just glimpses and brief insights around the edges of what He could accomplish.
So far Jesus had done amazing miracles, incredible things that far surpassed Elisha, the previous record holder for doing amazing miracles. He had healed thousands, cast out multiplied thousands of demons, cleansed lepers, raised two dead people, and even healed a man who had been born blind. But to believe that anyone, even Jesus Himself, could raise someone who had been in the tomb for four days was beyond anyone’s faith. No one had done anything even close to that, ever.
But Jesus had not come that day to commiserate with the sisters. He had come to breathe life into a situation where death lay heavy. He had come, in advance of His own death and resurrection, to show that He was, in fact, the Lord of life.
Note that Jesus did NOT say that He had come to enable resurrection and life. His claim was that He Himself was the resurrection and the life. Just as Jesus embodied the kingdom of God in His very being, Jesus also embodied real life, genuine rebirth and life from the dead. Where He walked, life existed in all its fullness, and death’s power was completely stripped away.
The life that is in Jesus is actuated in our lives through faith in Him, the heart-deep understanding that, since Jesus is life itself, to be in intimate relationship with Him by faith is to be in a living relationship with that life. Thus, for those who live in relationship with Jesus, death has no power or authority. Even though one’s physical body might die, and even decay, the life lived in Jesus will continue without a break, all the way to eternity.
As noted above, it was understood that Jesus could raise the dead, as He already had done with Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:22-43) and the widow of Nain’s only son (Luke 7:11-17). But every time He raised the dead, it was a demonstration of something even more incredibly profound: the fact that Jesus was, in fact, life itself.
Father, thank You for this reality. In relationship with You, death has no power over me, because, with You I live in the very midst of life, just as darkness has no power over someone who lives in a room filled perpetually with light. Help me, every moment, to live in the true life that is found only in You, life to the full that goes on forever in every dimension, starting right now. Amen.