John Chapter 11

vs 21

Martha obviously wanted Jesus to heal her brother and save him from death. But it seems to late now. Remember, if the twins (hehehe) Martha and Mary were living with Lazarus, they were more or less relying on him for their support. With him gone, they would now most likely be very poor.

vs 22

Martha isn't quite expressing the faith that Jesus can raise Lazarus from the dead - remember, she doesn't want Jesus to open the tomb. She believes her brother will be raised at the last day. So what is she expressing? A faith in Jesus which believes that even though he didn't save Lazarus, he is still in an intimate relationship with God. I mean, did Jesus heal everyone in Jerusalem and Judea of their ills while he was there? He just didn't make it in time for Lazarus.

vs 23

Jesus seems to be talking pretty plainly in this chapter.

vs 24

And obviously Martha is used to Jesus speaking in less-than-plain ways as well. But her statement shows us that a resurrection from the dead in the last days was fairly well accepted by the 1st century Jews. Except the Saducees. But who likes the Saducees?

vs 25-26

It is so much easier for us to understand what Jesus is saying in hindsight. See, even here he is speaking more or less plainly, but in a twisted way. The first time he says "dies" in vs 25, he means physical death. So even Lazarus' situation is covered. It is very much a picture of resurrection.

But verse 26 is not talking about physical death. The truth is that Lazarus will die again. He could have gotten sick and died the next week. A meteor could have fallen out of the sky and killed him when he stepped out of the tomb. Eventually he must have died, because he's not still wandering about.

But whoever has the life of Christ, and believes, will never die eternally. And Lazarus will be there in heaven as much as anybody. Jesus may even be pushing Martha to state her belief that it is only through Jesus that Lazarus will find eternal life and be raised on the last day - not because he was a good Jew or any other reason. Remember- resurrection at the last day is cold comfort - it only means you're alive for judgement.

vs 27

Martha's answer to Jesus' question is that yes, she believes. She qualifies what she means - she believes that Jesus is the Messiah come into the world. She believes that he's telling the truth. Does she really understand what he's saying at the minute? Possibly not. She doesn't express a comprehension with what Jesus says, instead she expresses a faith in who he is, and so she is able to believe him even if she doesn't quite get it at the moment.

vs 28

We assume that Jesus really was calling for Mary, and that Martha isn't just saying it to get her to come and see Jesus.

vs 29

Mary was keen to see Jesus, because she goes out as soon as she hears he is calling for her. Perhaps she wasn't keen to have him or anyone else see her grief. Now grief and wailing are typical in the Middle Eastern culture - just watch the next funeral of a Palestinian kid killed by an Israeli soldier or something - and they are perhaps a more openly emotional people than you or I, but there are still rules that govern such behaviour. The fact that you could (and still can) hire professional mourners to cry and wail at a funeral shows that a lot of the emotion at such events is "put on" to show that you really cared for the person (even if you didn't really).

So it is still possible that Mary was so grief-stricken, and perhaps a little upset with Jesus too, that she didn't want to come out and make a public scene. Because public scenes are especially socially taboo in these cultures.

vs 30

And we get a little message about where Jesus was at the time.