Verses 17-19 Lazarus has been dead for about four days by the time Jesus arrives. The funeral was over, but a few people stuck around to comfort Mary and Martha.
Verse 20 says Martha heard Jesus was coming, and she went and met him. She knew he would come and had been waiting. While Mary stayed in the house. We’re not sure if she just didn’t know Jesus was coming or if she was so deep into her sorrow that she stayed back, indulging in her sadness.
So basically while Martha’s busy body behavior became a trap for her when it came time to be with Jesus amid things to do, it also helped her run to him first in her pain and receive comfort. While Mary, being more contemplative and reserved, had an easier time sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to his word without the distractions of a busy mind, it also made her less able to handle her grief and led her to sulk in her sorrow.
If You Had Been Here…
Verses 21 Martha is clearly upset and when she sees Jesus, she basically blames her brother’s death on His delay. She believes Jesus’ decision was heartless. She says if he had been there, none of this would have happened. Man, she really let him have it. Our emotions will rip the restraints right off of our mouths sometimes!
Notice why she’s mad. She believed Jesus had the power to heal her brother from this illness. She believed Jesus loved them and would have had compassion for their family had he been there. But weak faith limits Jesus’ power to his physical presence. She thinks that in order for Jesus to heal Lazarus, he would have needed to have been there in person with her brother.
We have a tendency to bring more trouble to our lives by thinking about what might have been “if…”. We do not know what might have happened “if” so what good does this thinking do? When God’s will is done, we must submit to it.
But Even Now I Know
Verse 22 And then it’s as if, after the flood of emotions had vented long enough, Mary collects herself and corrects herself. She reminds her troubled heart of the truth and says, “But even now I know… that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” (ESV)
What a mess of emotions. Full of faith and full of frustration. That is life sometimes. Jesus can deal with our disappointments and spiritual struggles.
Martha still had hope. She believed Jesus could perform a miracle even now if he wanted to. She didn’t even know what to ask for (raising a man this dead had never happened before) but she had hoped that Jesus could ask God for ‘something’.
Sometimes, the hopelessness of a situation renders us speechless for a solution. We don’t even know what to pray for. These are pivotal moments to let Jesus, our Intercessor, pray for us. But the interesting thing here is that Martha suggests Jesus go ask his Father to do something about this. Jesus is Life himself and he holds the power and authority of God to act.
Look To What Will Be
Verses 23-26 Notice Jesus doesn’t rebuke Martha for feeling this way. He responds to that sliver of faith she’s holding onto and says, “your brother will rise again.” (v.23)
It is for our comfort and to our advantage to redirect troubling thoughts to what gives us hope. We should redirect our thoughts to what will be. Our future with Jesus is certain.
Martha fully believes that her brother will rise in the resurrection on the ‘last day’. But the thought of eternal life wasn’t much comfort here in her pain. It’s like her present suffering went deeper than her faith. The heartache of death affected her more than the life in Jesus’ words.
In the crosses of life, our discontentment can undervalue future hope. Though things may never be the same, that doesn’t mean the days ahead are hopeless.
In our distress, we can fasten our faith to his sovereign power. He is the fountain of life. The author of resurrection. This is what Jesus is talking about here. Resurrection isn’t just an event. It’s a person. It’s Jesus. With His Word, Jesus holds the power to work anything for the good of those who love him.
The Son of God has “life in himself” (John 5:26) and can give life so that a person may “live forever.” (John 6:51) That’s how he can say that the one who believes in Him will never die. (v.26) The body’s death to this world is the soul’s birth into another world. Resurrection is a return to life. This is only for those who believe in Jesus and trust in him as the only way to reconcile and commune with God. For those who believe everything God has said in his Word concerning Jesus and they live by it. They believe that by faith they are born again to a heavenly life, to whom to live is Christ—that makes Christ the life of his soul.
Jesus is our satisfaction and contentment.
The promises of this new covenant, this new relationship with God through Jesus, are for those who believe in Jesus and trust Him as the only way to reconcile and communicate with God. This is for those who receive the Word of God concerning Jesus as Truth and walk in it.
The spiritual life we have with Jesus can never die, whereas the physical life will eventually die and fade away.
Even though she still didn’t comprehend everything or know what exactly was going to happen, Martha trusted Jesus and confessed Him as the Messiah, the son of God.
Prayer
Jesus, I don’t want to miss you here with me when a wave of emotions engulfs my thoughts. I don’t want to entertain pain and sulk in the sorrows when you hold comfort and healing in your hands. Help me look up and acknowledge you are here. Holy Spirit, captivate my attention so that my worries shift past the “what ifs”. I want to live confident in your presence that protects, provides, comforts, heals, and shows me the way. Help me, Holy Spirit, surrender and submit to your will in all areas of my life, and not entertain the possibility of something different. I surrender to you my faith and frustration. All my doubts and disappointments. Even now, Jesus, I don’t know what to pray for in my struggles and sorrows, and so I trust You with what you see as my best. Use your authority to act on my behalf. Despite what I’m dealing with here on earth, I know my future with you is certain, and this gives me peace. My satisfaction is in you, Jesus. I see the suffering and heartache in those around me right now and ask for your healing in them, Jesus. For those who are discontent with their lives, I pray you will intervene with hope in you, Jesus. You are the fountain of life. The author of resurrection. It’s in your holy name I pray Jesus, Amen.