19 And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 [But] even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
Lazarus has died, and many people have come from nearby Jerusalem to comfort Martha and Mary. When Martha hears that Jesus is approaching Bethany, she goes out to meet Him. Her first words reveal both sorrow and faith: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 21). Martha believes that Jesus could have healed Lazarus, yet she does not turn away from Him because He arrived after her brother’s death. She continues, “Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you” (v. 22). Martha does not directly ask Jesus to raise Lazarus. She places the situation in His hands. Her grief is real, but so is her confidence in Him.
Jesus tells Martha, “Your brother will rise” (v. 23). She understands His words as a reference to the resurrection of the dead on the last day. This hope was already present in the Old Testament: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake” (Daniel 12:2). Martha believes this truth, but Jesus now leads her beyond belief in a future event to faith in Him. He does not merely say that He will raise the dead. He declares, “I am the resurrection and the life” (v. 25).
The hope of resurrection rests in the person of Jesus Christ. He possesses authority over life and death because He is the Son of God. As Jesus had already taught, “Just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to his Son the possession of life in himself” (John 5:26). Jesus is the Resurrection because through His death and Resurrection He conquers death. He is the Life because those who believe in Him already begin to share in the eternal life He gives.
Physical death remains real, but it does not have the final word. Jesus promises, “Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live” (v. 25). Saint Paul expresses the same hope when he writes, “The dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52). At death, the soul comes before God for judgment, and at the end of time Christ will raise the body and reunite it with the soul. The whole person will then share forever in the life He gives.
Martha answers Jesus with one of the clearest professions of faith in the Gospel of John: “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world” (v. 27). Her words closely reflect the purpose of the Gospel itself: “That you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). Martha does not yet understand everything Jesus is about to do, but she knows who He is. Her faith rests not merely in what Jesus may do for her, but in Jesus Himself.
Our faith must rest there as well. Christian hope is not simply the belief that life will somehow continue after death. It is faith in Jesus Christ, who died, rose from the dead, and gives eternal life to those who believe in Him. Jesus does not merely promise resurrection. He is the Resurrection and the Life. Eternal life comes through Him, and He will bring the whole person—body and soul—into the fullness of the life He gives.
Lord Jesus, strengthen our faith in You. When we face sorrow, suffering, and death, help us to trust that You are the Resurrection and the Life. Keep us faithful to You so that we may share forever in the life You came to give. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011.
- Hahn, Scott, and Curtis Mitch. The Gospel of John. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010, 183.
- The Navarre Bible: The Gospel According to Saint John. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005, 408.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990, 970, para. 150.
- Senior, Donald, John J. Collins, and Mary Ann Getty-Sullivan, eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018, 1156.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara E. Reid, and Donald Senior, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. London: T&T Clark, 2022, 1421.
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