“Do You Believe This?” Jn. 11:25,26

In Jn. 11:25,26 Jesus made an amazing statement, then He followed it by asking a very simply question.  

Jesus’ friend Lazarus had died just a few days before. Four days after His friends’ burial, Jesus went to the cemetery and was met by Lazarus’ sister, Martha. Jesus told her: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (vss. 25,26)

What an incredible statement. Here was a man standing before Martha telling her that He was the resurrection of life, and that if anyone would believe in Him they would live forever. Would this cause Martha to doubt? Wasn’t Lazarus a believer, a disciple, of Jesus?  And just where was it that Martha was having this conversation about life and death?  Wasn’t it in a cemetery near the fresh grave of her beloved brother?  Many lose their faith in just such a scene as this.  

In vs. 26 Jesus asked Martha “Do you believe this?” Martha didn’t just say that she believed in a Christ, but the Jesus, the one standing before her, was the one.   

Martha made her great confession in Jesus just before He raised her brother from his early grave. She believed and her faith was quickly vindicated. If we believe in the same way that she did we don’t expect to so quickly leave the cemetery in triumph. But the power that Jesus demonstrated in Bethany assures us that one day (that last great day) we can leave the cemetery just as surely as Lazarus did when Jesus says, “Come forth” to all the faithful.