Grieving is hard. We grieve when the evil world crashes down around us and destroys the things or people we hold dear and there’s little we can do about it. Whether it’s the death of a loved one, the betrayal of love, rampant corruption and injustice, you name it, we grieve when we face brutal reminders that things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be. Maybe then we question like Martha did. God could have stepped in and kept these evil things from happening to us. Where is God? Why is he letting things go on like this?
We are not left without answers. God is in fact doing something glorious beyond our imagination. But Jesus, rather than describing for Martha what that glorious thing is, gives her assurance in who he himself is. I am the resurrection and the life, Jesus says. This is the central highlight piece of the story of Lazarus, the part that John wants us to take home and remember. We follow a God who does not and will not let death go unconquered, and who will certainly make all things the way they are supposed to be; and we who believe in his name will have eternal, abundant, death-free life beyond any kind of life this evil time can offer. Even when we suffer, don’t forget to look to Jesus.
But do we actually believe that? I mean, do we really, actually believe it, even in the hard times? When suffering weighs our hearts down and eclipses any semblance of hope in us, do we actually still believe that there is still life in Jesus’ name? If so, that’s a powerful faith indeed. In my opinion, the faith Martha shows here is the shining light of this story, even more so than the miracle to come. In her overwhelming grief, she still has confidence in Jesus. She has unshaken trust that God is a God of love, even when she doesn’t feel it; of light, even when she can’t see it; and of life, even when the world seems to surround her with nothing but death.
Have faith like Martha’s faith. Have a confidence in Christ Jesus that nothing in the world can shake. Even when we suffer and question what God is doing, trust in the good news of who God is. Martha didn’t even get to know the end of the story until the end of the story. But read ahead a couple verses: something great is coming! We, on the other hand, get the privilege of knowing how our story will end, at least in part. So even when you can’t see the life that is ahead, trust that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that there is resurrection and life in his name.
