Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus
is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But
let us go to him.” Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow
disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
When Jesus arrived, he found that
Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem,
some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to
console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she
went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if
you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God
will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will
rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the
resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and
the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and
everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She
said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God,
the one coming into the world.”
John 11:14-27
Jesus does not bring any philosophical
arguments about life after death. He does not try to prove the reasonableness
of immortality. He simply declares it! He speaks of what He knows, and answers
with the authority of heaven. He is the resurrection, and that means He is our
resurrection. The resurrection has two aspects. The bodies of believers will be
raised, and their spirits will also live on in heaven.
For grieving Christians whose
believing loved ones have died, it means that death does not sever our love for
them, for love belongs to the Spirit, not the body. Are you sorrowing over one
who has been called to heaven? Jesus promises that we will be reunited one day,
when God gives us back our precious loved ones.
Christ has
replaced the dark door of death with the shining gate of life.
Our Daily
Bread – April 3, 2006