As she brought the sting of her brother’s passing to Jesus, Martha expressed a very human mixture of both pain and belief. John 11:21 and 22 record her broken heart saying, “You could have prevented this,” while her faith was saying, “I still believe you can do something about it.” But these statements expose a very constrained perspective. And the conversation that follows in verses 23-27 reveals Jesus sensitively, compassionately, and purposefully escorting her toward an expanded and liberating one.
Like most us, she didn’t realize how much a fear of death was restricting her vision and restraining her spiritual freedom. She agreed with the Lord’s promise that Lazarus would rise again but said she believed it wouldn’t happen until “the last day.” And if you imagine that eternal life only begins at some point after this one has ended, then you can find yourself overly preoccupied with preserving this one, and our adversary will use the threat of its premature loss to blackmail you with fear.
Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us that part of Christ’s mission was to “…destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Of course, it’s natural and appropriate through healthy choices and reasonable caution to try and preserve your physical life. But like Martha, most of us don’t realize how much liberty we forfeit when we’re in the grip of the fear of losing it.
So, here we see Jesus calling one of his dear ones to an understanding that the life he offers begins the moment we place our faith in him and extends seamlessly into eternity unaffected by physical death. He told her that resurrection isn’t a future event, it’s a person. This passage contains the fifth of the “I am” statements in John’s Gospel. Jesus told Martha, “I AM the resurrection and the life,” and went on to say that that truth renders death both immaterial and impotent. He told her that those who believe in him may pass through the portal of physical death but never die.
I hope you’ll understand that I’m not trivializing what Martha was going through by sharing this story. But my wife and I really enjoy visiting Disneyland in Southern California where we live, and it’s been closed for months because of the Covid-19 pandemic. So, when we heard that Walt Disney World in Florida was allowed to reopen, we started considering the idea of making a trip out there to enjoy one of our favorite vacation activities.
We’ve been appropriately cautious regarding the virus, but last week, we boarded a plane and made a trip to the Sunshine State for a Disney fix. Was it risky? A little. But we found that the Disney company had gone to extraordinary lengths to protect their guests, and we had a wonderful time.
It devalues a precious gift from God when we take inappropriate risks and foolishly endanger our lives. On the other hand, it dishonors the magnitude of his salvation when we’re so concerned about not dying that we don’t really live.
But fear of death is not just about loss of life. It’s also about loss generally. There’s more than one kind of death a person can face. It’s possible to experience the death of a marriage, a friendship, or a dream for example. And the fear of that can be equally paralyzing. But Christ’s victory on the cross is expansive enough to swallow up that kind of anxiety as well.
At the close of this passage, Martha stepped into a fuller faith-perspective when she proclaimed her confidence in who Jesus IS. Belief in what he can DO is far less important than faith in who he IS. That’s the kind of faith that breaks the bonds of the fear of death.
Is that fear nibbling away at your life today? Are you anxious about losing something or someone? Remember, he IS the resurrection and the life.