Do You Believe This?

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

DO YOU BELIEVE THIS

John 11:11-27

11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."  12 His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 14 So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."  16 Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." 17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. 21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."  24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"  27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

NIV

Jesus has just been explaining to his disciples that the sickness of Lazarus was not going to end in death, but this whole situation was so God could bring glory to Jesus. We have been told that Jesus loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus and that they lived in Bethany. Here we are told it is only two miles from Jerusalem. It sits just on the far side of the Mount of Olives from which one can see Jerusalem just across the Kidron Valley. We had that privilege of standing there where Jesus might have walked up from the Kidron Valley to the town of Bethany. Before the journey from the Galilee area, he told his disciples it was time to go wake up Lazarus. They thought he meant that Lazarus was in bed sleeping and it was best because he would get better through rest. Sometimes it is difficult to catch the meaning of a metaphor and his disciples were no different. So Jesus makes it plain, Lazarus is dead. There is a strange and interesting remark by Thomas which seems to just be inserted within the narrative. What was Thomas saying and why did he say it? It is thought this gave some clues to the character of Thomas as to his difficulty in believing. The thought is he was worried about going back to the area of Jerusalem where people were looking for a way to kill Jesus. Thomas was thinking that as long as Jesus was going to be killed, the disciple should go with and be killed along with Jesus. However, what John may have been indicating in this narrative, is how Thomas was having doubts that Jesus was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, that all would go wrong instead. Nevertheless, they did get to Bethany and we have this first exchange between Jesus and Martha. She came out to meet him and her first remarks are interesting.  First, she sort of chides Jesus. “If you have been here my brother would not have died”. This was meaning she was not happy Jesus took so long to get here, but at the same time, she was expressing her faith that if Jesus had been there, he would have healed her brother. But, she is also expressing in her next words that Jesus is still capable of doing a miracle that God will do anything he asks. What powerful faith. Sometimes we get it wrong, seeing Mary's response as the better one, but Martha is saying she believes Jesus could still do something. But after Jesus assures her Lazarus will rise again, she gets is right, but is also wrong in understanding what Jesus is saying. We wonder how often we get it wrong about what Jesus has said. Yet, Jesus makes it clear to her. He is the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in him will live even though they die. He goes on to say that whoever lives and believes in him will never die. He is speaking of having eternal life, even after the death of the body. Oh death, where is thy sting! We have nothing to fear of growing old and coming to the end of our life in this body as we know it. As we already know Jesus does bring Lazarus from the grave, but at some time later Lazarus still will come to the end of his life in the body, but he will live forever, as we will. It does seem strange to us, that so many people, believers spend so much effort to prepare for old age, or make so much effort to remain here. All that seems rather futile because the death of the body awaits us all, but at that moment we raise to be with our Lord. However, expressing the same sentiment as Paul wrote to the Philippians. He was torn between two courses of life. He would rather die and be with Christ, but also remain so he could continue to minister to their progress and joy in the faith. This leads us to an understanding of why we remain. It is not a self-centered reason, just not wanting to die, but for the purpose of ministering to others. As we age, as we get to the older years of our life, we are not to just sit and soak so to speak, or get lazy doing nothing for others, just being concerned about our comfort. Just as Paul continued on till the death of his body, and Jesus continued to teach, to be concerned about those he loved, even on the cross, until the death of his body, and of course beyond. Jesus never quits ministering to us. Why should we be any different? Why should we quit? No, we labor on, we continue to do that which he has called us to do, until the last day of our last breathe, then and only then, will we rest. We believe this.