65 - Raising Lazarus

John 11:1-57
Although the climax of this story is the raising of Lazarus, the heart of it is the conversation Jesus has with Martha and Mary.

The family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus are very close to Jesus.  He is the one they think to inform when Lazarus fell ill. But he doesn't come immediately.  He delays, and tells his followers that it was good he wasn't there, so "you may believe."  But 'belief' here and in much of the rest of the gospel means to trust rather than to have intellectual assent.

By the time he arrives, Lazarus has been in the tomb four days.  Martha meets him, and although she is upset that he didn't come earlier, nevertheless trusts that Jesus will do the right thing.  Jesus instructs her on the difference between resuscitation and resurrection.  Those who trust in Jesus, the resurrection and life, will have eternal life.

"Do you believe this?" Jesus asks Martha.

"I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God..." replies Martha.  She becomes the second woman, after the woman at the well, to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

I love what the Women's Bible Commentary says about this story:
"Jesus' conversations with Mary and Martha transform this story from a miracle story about the raising of Lazarus into a story about the fullness of new life that is possible to all who believe in Jesus.  The initiative of these women in sending for Jesus, their bold and robust faith, the grief and pain that they bring to Jesus, their willingness to engage Jesus in conversation about life, death and faith, and their unfaltering love for Jesus are marks of the life of faith for John.  Martha and Mary model how people are to live as they struggle to free themselves from the power of death that defines and limits them and move to embrace the new promises and possibilities of live available through Jesus."

Jesus raising Lazarus - Caravagio