John 11:11-45 Commentary

Resurrection stories in Lent really catch our attention. But really, the resurrection event is a backdrop for the experience of faith for a number of characters.

The most prominent, of course, are our sisters Martha and Mary. The gospel writer tells us at the beginning of this story what happens at the beginning of the next one when Mary anoints Jesus’s feet with her hair. It’s an interesting detail to purposefully include at this point. Would we forget about the raising of Lazarus that quickly that John wants to connect these two stories? Or is this his way of connecting an act of worship and faith to exemplify Mary’s belief in Jesus as the resurrection and the life?

I wonder about this because the other characters in today’s text who express faith all have an action tied to their belief.

When we look at Martha, for instance, she and her sister appear to be processing their grief differently: they aren’t together in their home, but Martha has left at word that Jesus is finally on his way. Martha goes to meet Jesus on the road. I’m not certain where the story of Martha and Mary hosting Jesus in Luke 10 falls in John’s timeline, but I suspect that it happens before Lazarus dies because the events in John 11 are the last ones John writes about before starting Holy Week. All of that is to say that Martha hearing Jesus is on his way and choosing to leave the accepted place of mourning to go to him is itself a great act of belief in Jesus.

Martha’s trust is matched by her words, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” But look at how she doesn’t stop there, telling Jesus that he has the power to pray and to receive from God whatever he asks. Martha has come to recognize Jesus’s authority. She even trusts in the promise of resurrection that her sect of Judaism believes.

But Jesus asks her if she believes something more. Jesus asks her if she believes that he is the resurrection and the life—more than able to ask and receive, he is the one able to give, that is he the one. “Yes, Lord, I believe…” she says, “that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

Martha’s second act of doing something about what she believes is very reminiscent of the original discipleship call in the book of John, when Andrew realized he was with the Messiah and he went to get his brother Peter. Martha makes her profession of faith about the Messiah and goes to get her sister. I wonder if Martha looked different to Mary; what sound was in her voice when Martha told Mary that Jesus was calling?

Everyone in the house follows Mary to Jesus’s side and Jesus is overcome with compassion and empathy for these mourners; he joins them, going to the tomb and weeping with them. The crowd is moved by the scene but it’s a bittersweet mix, appreciative of Jesus’s love, but also wondering why he didn’t do something to prevent the loss of their friend. As we so often ask in the face of suffering, why didn’t God keep it from happening?

Mary’s response is unclear—unless we remember that detail given to us at the beginning of the story. The next time that Jesus comes around to their home, Mary will honour Jesus by anointing him with costly oil and worshipping him by washing his feet with her hair. Her belief, strengthened by this resurrection miracle, leads her to this expression of faith.

There’s one more group worth considering: the disciples. Part of the set up for this story includes Jesus telling his disciples that they are headed back to Judea. He’s delayed going since news of Lazarus first came to him, but now Jesus tells them they are headed back into the danger zone. The disciples don’t love this idea and try to reason things out with Jesus. Jesus finally tells it to them straight, Lazarus is dead and something good that will come of this is that the disciples may come to believe.

What Jesus means and what the disciples actually believe are worlds apart on this matter. Jesus means believing in him, as he shows in his conversations with Martha and Mary. But the disciples believe that going to Judea will result in their own deaths (see verse 16). So the question for me is, what did the disciples hear and come to believe when Jesus says to Martha, “Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die”? How does all that they see shape not only what they believe about Jesus, but what they believe about their own fates as his followers? Is Lazarus’s resurrection and the belief of Martha and Mary meant to be a promise for all disciples?

Textual Point

Notice that Jesus’s prayer is not a request for the healing, but instead of prayer of thanksgiving. Jesus does the miracle out of sight, but then publicly thanks God so that others can see and understand that his power comes from God.

Illustration Idea

You know that feeling when you tell your kid, “You can do it!” But you realize you’re saying it just as much for yourself as you are for them? That you need them to be able to do it as well? It’s like those commercials where you watch a parent support and help their kid learn and grow and try hard things until you reach the end and the kid is all grown up and getting married or having their own child. The mom or dad now stands with tears in their eyes, but their feeling is still the same, proud and a little needy, “You can do it, because I need you to be okay, no matter what.” When I imagine Martha, that’s the feeling that bubbles up for me. She needs Jesus to be who he has said and already shown himself to be.

[Note: For the Year A Season of Lent and leading up to Easter, CEP has, in addition to these weekly sermon commentaries, a special Lent and Easter Resource Page with links to whole sermons, commentary on Lenten texts, and more.]