Jesus Put Flesh On Hope

What Did Jesus Do?

Martha said, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus said, “I AM the resurrection...”
John 11.24-25

While the Messiah remained a hope, and not a reality, to the Jews, the protocols and rituals of grief and mourning, and of consoling the bereaved, were a big deal. So it is not at all surprising that, four days after the death of Lazarus, a crowd had showed up in Bethany to try and comfort Martha and Mary (John 11.17-19). What was a little surprising on that fourth day was the arrival of Jesus (though no one at first could have had any idea just how surprised they would be). Martha and Mary had sent word about their brother's serious illness to their friend from Nazareth in the hope and expectation that he would come quickly and heal Lazarus as he had healed others (John 11.1-3; 11.21). Christ's belated arrival was a surprise because no one who knew him would have ever expected him to be part of a throng of mourners (see Mark 5.35-43 to better understand what little affinity had for those who made mourning something of a profession). But Jesus hadn't come to mourn (though he would weep), but rather to put flesh on the hope of Martha and Mary, and of all God's people.

You see, for hundreds of years Israel had clung to the promise of the coming of the Messiah. While there were a lot different interpretations of just what the Messiah's kingdom would be like, the hope of many was that his coming would bring about the establishment of an eternal peace with God, and the resurrection of the dead. Now hope, even a long-cherished hope, can prove to be rather elusive and remote. Hope in a long-promised, but as yet unrealized, Messianic kingdom was simply not enough for the sisters to cope with the reality, and seeming finality, of death, and both Martha, and then Mary, chided the Lord with their “If only you had been here” statements (John 11.21, 32).

Again, unlike the others, who had come to mourn, and perhaps to console with words of hope in the resurrection, Jesus came to Bethany to put flesh on that hope. When Martha said, “I know there will be a resurrection some day,” Jesus took that hope and put flesh and blood on it by declaring, “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.” (John 11.25-26) It matters little what other doctrines we cling to, what creeds we may hold, without believing that Jesus is the resurrection, and that in him we have eternal life, our faith is worthless, and life is, well, hope-less.

Faith is not wishing that dreams will possibly come true some day, but rather here and now the assurance in, the reality of, that which we hope for (see Hebrews 11.1). Martha and Mary would not have empty arms hoping and longing to embrace their departed brother someday, but in and through Jesus would hold the living Lazarus again that very day. The glory of the Father, in and through the Son, would reveal, with the raising of Lazarus, the authority and power Father and Son both possess over death.

Unlike others who seek to comfort those who mourn with hopeful words, we, who believe, share with the bereaved our hope made flesh: Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life. For all who live and believe in Jesus shall never die.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4