I am the resurrection and the life

 

 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.  

 

Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.  And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.  Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.  

 

Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."  Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."  Martha said to Him, "I know that 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, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?"  She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."

 

And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you."  As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.  

 

- John 11:17–29 

 

Yesterday we read that a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.  It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.  Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."  When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it."  Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.   So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.  Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."  The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?"  Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?  If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.  But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."  These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up."  Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well."  However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.  Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.  And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.  Nevertheless let us go to him."  Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us go also, that we may die with Him." 

 

  So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.  According to my study Bible, there was a rabbinical opinion that the soul lingered near the body for three days, but after four days resuscitation would be impossible.  

 

 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.  And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.  Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.  In Jewish tradition, mourning began on the day of a person's death.  My study Bible explains that weeping and wailing lasted three days; lamentation lasted one week; and general mourning lasted thirty days.  As we observe also in the story found in Luke 10:38-42, these two sisters respond differently and characteristically to Christ's arrival.  Martha is the one concerned with hospitality and active service.  She went out to meet Jesus, as hospitality and friendship would ask.  Mary, however, remains sitting in the proper posture for mourning.  Sitting is the traditionally appropriate posture when mourning and receiving other mourners (Job 2:8, 13; Ezekiel 8:14).  

 

Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."  My study Bible comments that while Martha possesses great faith, her statements indicate a lack of understanding about Christ.  When she says, "if You had been here, my brother would not have died," she reveals about herself that she doesn't fully see that Christ is God, in that she thinks He needed to be present to effect healings (contrast John 4:46-54).  In saying, "whatever You ask of God, God will give You," she shows that she fails to understand as yet that Christ possesses full divine authority to act as He wills.  

 

Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."  Martha said to Him, "I know that 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, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?"  She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."   In order to correct Martha's misunderstanding, Jesus declares His divine authority to raise the dead at the last day as well as here in this world.  As in other cases we've observed in St. John's Gospel (such as the temple officers who failed to arrest Jesus because of the power of His speech), Martha is immediately led to her confession of faith, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."  My study Bible says that Jesus' question, "Do you believe this?" is one directed not simply to Martha, but to all of us.

 

And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you."  As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.  We note again that Mary has been sitting in the home, in the customary tradition for mourning and receiving other mourners.  But once she hears a command from Christ relayed to her through her sister, as soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.

 

 There is a small, intimate drama of faith played out in our reading for today.  Only, it's not so small in its effect, for today, 2,000 years later, we are still feeling that effect.  But, in the story, there is a sister mourning her dead brother.  Given the love of these three people, the small family of Lazarus, we can imagine her heartbreak.  So much so, that Christ's own feelings for these people will also overcome Him, for we will be told -- in the smallest verse in all the Gospels -- that Jesus wept with the sisters (John 11:35, coming up in tomorrow's reading).  In keeping with the surprising 'smallness' and intimacy of the circumstances of this event just prior to its occurrence, Jesus and Martha are alone on a road or path leading to Martha's home.   In what we might imagine is a reproachful (or at least regretful) tone, Martha says to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."  But then, she asks for a prayer, although it's been four days since his death:  "But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."  At this, Jesus has His opening.  "Your brother will rise again," He tells her.  As is so often the case in St. John's Gospel, Martha doesn't fully understand what He's getting at, and thinks He's speaking of "the resurrection at the last day."  And then Jesus has the occasion to fully reveal Himself to Martha, alone with her in the road:  "I am the resurrection and the life."  This is another "I AM" statement (of several found in St. John's Gospel); it contains the name of God given to Moses at the Burning Bush. But He adds more, about faith and its power:  "He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?"   Martha, who is already His friend, and among the disciples in terms of closeness to Him, replies with full confession of faith, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."  There are other confessions like this in the Gospels.  Perhaps most notably in this Gospel is the Samaritan woman to whom Jesus speaks at Jacob's Well (John 4:1-42).  To the eyes of even the disciples, His willingness to engage a woman alone was shocking, and yet He revealed Himself as Messiah to her.  So it is with Martha in this possibly lonely and isolated place, where she comes with her sadness and mourning to meet Him.  It is remarkable to consider how the greatest and most spectacular of events can begin in private, quiet moments, even through circumstances of evil or of difficulty.  But so it is with the Samaritan woman, and with Martha.  Jesus loves this family, but the extraordinary seventh sign of seven in the Gospel will seal His death sentence from the religious authorities.  For people from Jerusalem have also come to mourn with the sisters, and they are inside the house with Mary even as Martha and Jesus speak. Let us pay careful attention to what unfolds in our following reading.  But consider the power of one single short prayer in a desperate time, for the Gospels speak of it as a seed that explodes with power in the work the Lord will do, at the proper time.

 

 

 

Lazarus, come forth!

 

 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him.  Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."  Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."  Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.  And He said, "Where have you laid him?"  They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."  Jesus wept.  Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!"  And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"

Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb.  It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.  Jesus said, "Take away the stone."  Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."  Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.  And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."  Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"  And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.  Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."

 

- John 11:30-44 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus came toward Bethany, the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.  Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.  And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.  Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.  Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."  Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."  Martha said to Him, "I know that 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, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?"  She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."  And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you."  As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 

 

  Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him.  Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."  Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."  My study Bible comments that Mary approaches Christ with the identical words Martha used (see yesterday's reading above, verse 21).  It notes that while Jesus engaged Martha with words, here He engages Mary with deeds --- the raising of her brother from the dead.

Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.  And He said, "Where have you laid him?"  They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."  Jesus wept.  Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!"  And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"  My study Bible says that John's emphasis on the specifics of Christ's response -- that Jesus wept, and groaned in spirit -- show that He has fully taken on human nature, and was subject to grief as any human being would be.  Weeping, it says, is the natural response to the tragedy of death.   An Orthodox hymn sung on Lazarus Saturday declares, "Shedding tears by Your own choice, You have given us proof of Your heartfelt love."   While everyone in this story is a Jew (including the disciple John, author of the Gospel), the term the Jews is used like a political term, denoting those from Jerusalem and specifically linked to the religious leadership. 

Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb.  It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.  Jesus said, "Take away the stone."  Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."  Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"  Although Martha's faith had increased (see yesterday's reading, above), my study Bible says that she still did not understand Christ's will, nor His power.  The spices and oils which were used to anoint a dead body would only hold the stench of decomposition for a short time.   Many icons of the raising of Lazarus show bystanders covering their noses -- an illustration of both the reality of Lazarus' corrupted flesh and also the fact that many did not believe Christ could raise the dead.  He has been dead four days:  As noted in yesterday's reading and commentary, there was a rabbinical belief that the soul hung about the body for three days; but after that resuscitation was impossible. 

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.  And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."  Jesus shows that His divine will is one with the Father's, and that His human will is freely subject in every way to the Father's, by praying aloud for the sake of the people.  

Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"  My study Bible refers us to John 5:28-29, in which Jesus said, "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."  This statement, as well as Jesus' response to Martha in yesterday's reading, above, "I am the resurrection and the life," affirm that the raising of Lazarus is linked to Christ's power of life and death and resurrection.  My study Bible comments that Christ calls Lazarus to come forth not in the name of the Father, but by Christ's own authority.  This shows the people that while Jesus came from the Father, He fully posesses divine authority in Himself.  

And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.  Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."  My study Bible notes that many patristic commentaries see Lazarus coming out bound hand and foot with graveclothes as an indication that he will need them again.  Lazarus' resurrection continues an earthly life which will once again end in death.  Christ's graveclothes, by contrast, will be left in the tomb (John 20:5-7).  Unlike the resurrection of Lazarus, Christ's Resurrection will transfigure human nature:  He will never die again.   My study Bible adds that this sign not only prepared the disciples to believe in the Resurrection of Christ, but again, in the words of the hymn for the day, it also "confirmed the universal resurrection," proving that Christ has the power to fulfill the promise given to Ezekiel that all the dead will one day rise (Ezekiel 37:1-13). 

This image of Lazarus emerging from the tomb, bound hand and foot with graveclothes, is one that seems to haunt the imagination of human beings.  The notion of resurrection from the grave stirs a kind of fear of the unknown and also of the power of death itself.  Many "ghost stories" affirm this, and also even extending to modern culture in the West, such as the story of Frankenstein, and the many modern films (with what are called "iconic" images now) spawned from it.  Even the discoveries of the tombs of the Pharoahs seem to have echoed in the mind of the public and the creators of science fiction stories this image of Lazarus walking out of the tomb, bound hand and foot with graveclothes.  But these modern fantasies and iterations of this image only really serve to impress upon us the great significance of this seventh and final sign in John's Gospel, the one that will seal Christ's faith with the religious authorities in Jerusalem.  Death and the grave still have a powerful significance in our modern hearts and souls, despite advances in medicine and science and the understanding of our physical bodies.  Death remains an evil and a tragedy, the grave a place of fear.  This is not simply because it is unknown, but because we still have a sense of the evil of death, defined as the enemy of the good -- the opposition to God, to Christ who has told us in this chapter that He is the resurrection and the life, and that He has come that we may have life more abundantly (John 10:10).  That Lazarus is bound hand and foot with graveclothes suggests something to us about death and the nature of death and the one who brings death to the world:  it is a prison, brought by the one who wants to imprison and enslave human beings, to bind us hand and foot.  By contrast, Christ is the Liberator, our Deliverer, our Savior, and our Judge who sets right injustice at the final reckoning of Resurrection.  He is the One who declares, "Loose him, and let him go."  His action is to unbind us from what oppresses, and binds, and cloys at our hearts.   Many have used the notion of Judgment only to put a negative understanding on Christ's teachings, but that is a wrong perception.  It is through rejection of Christ's teachings that the "life more abundantly" that He promises will not come to fruition -- but the rejection has already made that choice, excluded that possibility.  This is not Christ's doing.  Christ offers us a gift of life, bound up in our faith in what He comes to give us, His word, and in that promise is this abundant life, and the Resurrection.  What we need to understand, even more deeply, is that the promise of Resurrection is the ultimate liberation from enslavement to death and sin, and from slavery to lies, which are all linked to one another spiritually (Matthew 10:28, Luke 12:4).  St. Paul calls death "the last enemy that will be destroyed" by Christ (1 Corinthians 15:25-26).  It is in offering to us the gift of faith, of life, and of resurrection, that death -- this last enemy that seeks to bind us hand and foot -- is destroyed.  And all we need to do is take up our cross and follow Him to find it, so that we participate in this victory over death, with Him.