In John 11:25-26 Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Believe His Word

This is fifth of the “I am” statements in John and is stunning. Jesus is saying, “I don’t just teach the resurrection, I am the resurrection. I don’t just believe in God’s power for life, I am God’s power for life. Don’t just believe it, believe in me.” Do you believe this? Do you believe Jesus’ word about Himself? We must remember that true faith is not mere trust in information and facts about Jesus. Rather, it’s belief in Him, in the one in whom all truth resides.

Martha says she believes in 11:27 and soon here sister Mary comes to where Jesus is, weeping, and essentially says the same thing as Martha, maybe with more tenders, but it’s still a subtle questioning of Christ’s love. She says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Mary is essentially asking the question we so desperately want to ask any time we lose a loved one, “Why didn’t you stop it?”

Oh, how we must pay attention to what Jesus does next.

Look at 11:33, “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” English translations of Jesus’ emotional state at this moment are notoriously bad. A more accurate translation is, “Jesus was irate.” It was a phrase often used in extra-biblical literature of a warhorse snorting. Jesus was visibly and audibly irate, but irate at what? I’ve heard most people say—preachers and commentators alike—that Jesus is angry at the great enemy of death. But I’m not so sure. The rest of the text highlights just how easily Jesus could have stopped death if He wanted to. What then brings about His indignant displeasure? I think it’s the subtle (Martha and Mary) questioning of his love and not so subtle questioning of his power in 11:37. There the crowd wonders aloud, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

This irate Savior asks to see the tomb and when He arrives 11:35, the shortest verse in all the Bible says, “Jesus wept.” There is a force in the Greek that means Jesus erupted into tears. As tears of anguish fall down his face, the time has now come for them to see His work.

See His Work

We need not tarry long or complicate the matter here. Jesus says, “Take away the stone,” and Martha, ever the pragmatist, is horrified in 11:39 saying, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Look at Jesus response in 11:40, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” In the kingdom of Christ believing leads to seeing; not the other way around. Is there anywhere you might not be believing in Jesus because you are not seeing it from Jesus?

Now, you must picture the crowds around Jesus at this moment. They are not expecting anything particularly unusual to happen. They believe Jesus is mourning before the tomb, just like they are. It’s why Martha thinks it unnecessary for the tomb to be open and undignified stink to arise. But Jesus has different, unexpected plan.

The stone is moved and look at His prayer in 11:41-42, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” Then with a loud voice he cried, “Lazarus, come out.” One old author said Jesus had to say the name Lazarus lest every person in the grave come out—such is the Lord’s power.

What a scene this must have been! The dead man walks out, covered in burial clothes, and Jesus commands in 11:44, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

If you are not a Christian, you will never find a better portrait of the life Jesus alone can give. The Bible says you are dead in your sin, rags of unbelief ensnare you and garments of sin cover you. There is nothing you can do to make yourself alive. But God makes dead sinners alive when they believe in Jesus. He died in the place of sinners, rose again, and so holds the keys to death and hell. He calls from this text to you saying, “Come out! Turn from your sin and trust in me. And I will loose you from the binds of sin and set you free.” Will you trust His wisdom? Believe His word? And see His work?

This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Dead Will Walk Again,” on John 11:1-44.