A Study of John 11:17-27

“Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 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. 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?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.””

John 11:17–27 ESV

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

When Jesus arrived at Bethany in Judea, He found Lazarus had been entombed four days. Bethany was only two miles from Jerusalem and many Jews had come to comfort Martha and  Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, in their grief. When Martha found out Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him, but Mary stayed seated at home. When Martha saw Jesus she said, “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Then Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.” To which Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

After this Jesus said to her, “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?” Martha then replied, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Textual Analysis and Implication (what is being said and what does this mean?):

In the previous verses Jesus received news that His friend Lazarus was sick. However, Jesus waited an additional two days to go to Lazarus, because He knew Lazarus was already dead and that waiting two more days to go to the family in Bethany would result in strengthening the family’s faith and the faith of many others who would see and hear what He was going to do.

It is verse 17 that tells us by the time Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead and in the tomb for four days. This is significant because at the time there was a Jewish rabbinic teaching that said the soul of a dead person stayed near to their dead body for three days looking for a chance to re-enter the body. But by the fourth day it would become clear to the soul that the body was decaying and death was unavoidable and only then the soul would depart.

There is no Biblical basis for such a belief, but this was a widely held superstition among this people group at the time. This being the case, Jesus intentionally waited an extra two days to go to Lazarus, who Jesus already knew was dead (verse 14), so that a total of four days passed since the death of Lazarus by the time He arrived at the tomb, meaning, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, no one could claim it was a mere resuscitation rather than a resurrection. To be clear, Jesus’ delay was not an affirmation of the superstition, but it was gracious accommodation He made to more clearly exhibit His power over life and death with the raising of Lazarus that will occur shortly (verses 43-44).

Continuing on to verses 18-19, we learn Bethany was about two miles away from Jerusalem, and also that many of the Jews had come to Bethany from Jerusalem to console Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, in their grief. The original Greek text states that Bethany was 15 “stadia” from Jerusalem. One “stadion” is equal to approximately 202 yards 9 inches, meaning 15 stadia is equal to about 1.72 miles. The fact that Bethany was so close to Jerusalem should first cause us to remember that Jesus left Jerusalem not long before with a group, led by the religious authorities, wanting to stone Him to death for claiming to be God. For Him to return now was definitely quite dangerous. But Jesus’ friends were in trouble, and He had a mission from His Father, so He braved the danger.

Secondly, while 1.72 miles is not an especially long distance, it is still significant that “many of  the Jews” made the trip from Jerusalem to comfort Mary and Martha. To comfort bereaved family and friends was widely regarded as an important social duty, but not everyone in this village would have had many people come from Jerusalem to console them over dead family members. Not every villager would have had those connections. The fact that this particular family had such connections, along with the later account of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume (John 12:1-7), reveals them to be a somewhat prominent family in the area. And in this we see yet another reason why God allowed this to happen to this family.

Just as Jesus delayed two days in going to Lazarus in order to more clearly override the superstition about the soul lingering near the body for three days, and in so doing make it clear Lazarus had been fully dead before being resurrected, God chose this family to experience this miracle because their prominence would mean many Jews from Jerusalem would be there to grieve with the family and then witness the resurrection of Lazarus. God is sovereign over every detail. He can do all things, and He does all things well.

Next, verse 20 provides an interesting detail saying, “So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.” John probably records this detail about Mary to illustrate the heavy grief this family experienced. In ancient times, this sort of posture, wherein the grieving person would sit or lay at home, was a way of expressing that one was so overwhelmed by the weight of grief they were practically unable to move.

This image of Martha actively going to meet Jesus while Mary grieved at home also paints a picture of the two women that mirrors the account from Luke 10:38-42 where Martha is shown to be the more active temperament, bustling in the kitchen, and Mary is shown to have the more tranquil temperament as she sat at Jesus feet.

As Martha met Jesus, in verses 21-22, she said to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” It is reasonable to assume Martha’s use of the word “Lord,” is similar to verse 3. While the word “Lord” in the New Testament often means the same thing as “God,” this is most likely not a full confession of deity yet. “Lord” or “Kyrie” in the original Greek of the text was also used as a respectful form of address and can probably be understood in the same way as “Rabbi” or “Sir.”

Also, we should not understand Martha’s words as a rebuke. She simply expressed her disappointment, heavy sorrow, and belief that had Jesus been present, He would have healed her brother Lazarus. However, it does not seem that she knew or believed that Jesus would raise Lazarus from the dead at that moment in time, but rather, only “on the last day” would he be resurrected (verse 24). Her belief, expressed in verse 22, that God will give Jesus anything He asks for seems to be more of a statement that, even in the middle of her heavy grief, she still loved Jesus and believed He enjoyed a special kind of closeness with the Father, and that His prayers and requests would never fail to be fruitful. We can all learn much from Martha here as she declared her faith in Jesus, and believing loyalty to Him, in the middle of tragedy. Will we continue to trust Jesus, like Martha, “even if…”?

In response to Martha, in her grief, Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”, to which Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Martha understood something that was rightly taught by the Pharisees in her time, which is that God will resurrect the righteous on the last day. In other words, death will not have the last word on the last day. This belief in a resurrection ran contrary to that of the Sadducees, but it seems the Pharisean understanding of this issue prevailed in most of Jewish society. For this reason we can almost imagine Martha letting out a sorrowful sigh as she gratefully acknowledged the fact that her deceased brother, a sincere follower of Yahweh, would rise again on the last day. But still, here in the pain of this moment, she did not begin to suspect that Jesus would raise him right now before her eyes. What Martha did not yet know is that Jesus was promising her she would see her brother rise by His power because He did not come only to declare resurrection and life to those who follow His teaching. He came to teach and show that He is the resurrection and the life.

And so, in verse 25 Jesus began to say to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life…”. Here we have yet another metaphorical “I am” statement from Jesus. Up to this point Jesus has declared Himself to be the “Bread of Life” (6:35), the “Light of the World” (8:12), the “Door” (10:7), and the “Good Shepherd” (10:11). Now Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” When Jesus says, “I am…something”, He is not merely saying that His teaching will lead to finding that “something.” Jesus is saying that to have Him is to have that very thing, and apart from Him the given thing does not exist. So, Jesus tells Martha here that her belief in a resurrection on some distant, future day, which was in line with mainstream Judaism of the time, was correct. But He also wanted to transform her intellectual understanding of this concept into a personal belief in Him as the only One who could and would provide resurrection and life. These things are found only in Him.

Continuing on, Jesus also said, “…Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Jesus first declared Himself to be the resurrection and the life, and now He invites Martha to trust in Him as the source of life itself. This is a remarkable claim, and could also be understood as yet another claim to be God by Jesus. For, who but God has the power to give life? Again, Jesus does not claim to have the teaching by which we can attain life if we follow it. Jesus says that He is the source of all life, and life is only obtained and retained by following Him. Those who truly follow Him will follow His teaching (John 8:31-32), but it is Christ who gives life.

We cannot do anything to earn this life; Christ gives life to those who simply trust in Him. And those who trust in Him will never die; even if they appear to die they will in fact live on for eternity with Him in paradise. Death for the follower of Jesus is simply a thin veil we pass through, as Jesus holds us tightly, into glorious, abundant life free from sin, suffering and sorrow forever. No power of sin, death or Hell can ever separate Jesus’ followers from Him (John 10:27-30). Death is merely the conveyance that brings the Christian to their Heavenly home.

After stating this, at the end of verse 26, Jesus asked Martha, “Do you believe this?”. Notice, Jesus did not ask Martha for intellectual agreement, He asked her if she believed. And Jesus did not ask if she believed in some distant, future resurrection on the “last day,” but rather, He asked if she believed in Him personally as the resurrection and the life. To “believe” in Jesus speaks of more than mere intellectual assent. The Devil and all his fellows know Jesus is Lord and God, as well as the resurrection and the life, but they do not believe in Him. To truly believe in Jesus means to have loving, believing loyalty to Him as our Lord God, and to trust Him and all that He says. So, as we read this we should take a moment to pause and reflect on Jesus’ question, “Do we believe this?”. As we face death, darkness and despair in this fallen world, do we hold fast to Christ in believing loyalty, trusting that He is the resurrection and the life who will personally carry us through every trial into abundant, glorious life? This is the question Jesus presented to Martha, and it is the question He presents to us today.

In verse 27 Martha responded to Jesus’ question by saying, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” One theologian has called these words from Martha “faith’s foothold.” She correctly stated Jesus is the Messiah (Christ means Messiah), and that He is the Son of God who came into the world. From the foundational foothold of this belief in Jesus, Martha’s feet were firmly planted in such a way that she would be enabled to continue climbing higher, so to speak, in her personal faith in and relationship with Jesus. Rooted in this faith, or rather, being rooted in Christ, she would be able to weather the storm of grief she was going through.

Response (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

This passage should cause us to think of Jesus as the resurrection and the life, rather than merely a teacher who could tell us the way to obtain resurrection and life. Jesus certainly is a teacher; He is the greatest of teachers, but He is so much more. What teacher can claim to be God and still be a good teacher if they are not in fact, God? Here, Jesus claimed to be the sole source of resurrection power and life. Who else but God could rightly claim such a thing? And He did not only claim such things, He proved it by raising Lazarus from the dead, and then He also rose from the dead Himself after His crucifixion. This Man is no mere teacher; He possesses the power of life, and death has no power over Him. Truly, Jesus is the Son of God, God incarnate who came, in love, to die for our sin and rise again that we too might be raised with Him by grace, through faith (Eph. 2:8-9).

Jesus is also a personal God and Savior. He personally came to Martha and Mary in their sorrow to grieve with them, comfort them, and help them. This is further evidence of the fact that God made us for a loving, intimate, personal relationship with Him, and when we severed the relationship with our sin, He selflessly came to die for our sin in order to save us and restore that relationship.

Jesus, the one true God, is not only the resurrection and the life, He is also love. And all He asks of us is that we confess our sin, repent of it, trust Him as our Lord God and Savior, and live with loving believing loyalty to Him; the One who loyally loves us even in our sinful state. He sees all of us, and still loves us and wants to raise us to life to dwell with Him in paradise. Hallelujah, what a Savior.

Self Reflection:

1. What or Who is my hope in life, death, and beyond?
2. Is there any grievous thing in my life right now that I need to either run to Jesus with, like Martha, or, like Mary, to sit with Him in the sad, stillness of?
3. Jesus says those who believe in Him will never die. Do I believe this? How does this joyful certainty help me to persevere in the pain of the here and now?