I am the resurrection and the life.
Jesus' words to Martha at her brother's tomb.
The episode in a glance.
- 01Martha believed in a future resurrection — Jesus says it's already here, in him.
- 02Resurrection is a person before it's an event.
- 03'Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.'
- 04Jesus then proves it by raising Lazarus.
Read along.
Lazarus had been dead four days when Jesus finally arrived. Martha met him outside the tomb and said, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.' She believed in a future resurrection, on the last day.
Jesus answered with one of his great I-am statements: '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.'
Notice what he does. Martha was thinking of resurrection as an event — something that would happen later. Jesus says resurrection is a person, and he's standing in front of her.
'Though he die, yet shall he live' — physical death isn't the end of the story for anyone who belongs to him.
Then Jesus does the unthinkable. He walks to the tomb, has them roll the stone away, and calls Lazarus out. The proof followed the promise. That's the kind of Savior we have at the graveside.