Whenever I read today’s passage, I have this sense of walking on holy ground. It’s such a well-known encounter – Jesus and his friend Martha, a shared grief, a conversation about life and death – and yet always somehow ‘other’: holy, mysterious, awesome. A passage to make you take off your shoes and kneel in wonder.
At the heart is this extraordinary statement: (vv25-26) ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.’ It’s the fifth of Jesus’ ‘I am’ statements – you can probably remember some of the others, maybe not the order! Thus far, we’ve had: I am… the bread of life (ch6), the light of the world (ch8), the gate for the sheep (ch10), the good shepherd (ch10 again). Each one reveals a facet of Jesus’ divinity – the One who nourishes us for ever; the One whose light draws us and guides us; the One who protects us; the One who pastors us – and now the One who brings us life.
There are two Greek words for ‘life’: bios and zoe. The first – bios – just means physical existence. The second – zoe – means real life, spiritual life, the things that make life worth living. This is the word for life that Jesus uses here. This is the life to which he calls us – what he described in the previous chapter as ‘abundant life’ (10:10).
It’s a life we can know now, before we die. But this passage also reminds us that this hope extends beyond death (v26). You could say that on this earth, we have both kinds of life (bios and zoe), but in eternity there will be only one kind of life – zoe – the life Jesus talks about here: abundant and eternal.
It’s quite a thought. And, for all the joy of Lazarus’ physical resurrection in the next part of the story, it’s a thought we need to hold onto. Our hope goes beyond the grave, into eternity. This hope, Jesus declares, comes through believing in him (or ‘on’ him, a translation I like, because it carries that sense of dependence and trust). It is freely given, available to all who will receive it at any point, and lasts forever. Wow!
Jesus had this conversation with one individual – but, as so often with Jesus, what he shared with her is for all of us. As we stand on this holy ground today, let’s give thanks for this promise of life, for the hope, the peace, the joy and the purpose it brings. And may our response be simply that of Martha’s – whether for the first, or thousandth, time: ‘Yes, Lord, I believe!’