Hello and welcome to Wednesday’s Foundation Podcast.

Today’s reading is John 11: 17-44. It’s an amazing passage of scripture which you can hear read in full at the end of this podcast. Today, we are going to focus on verses 25 and 26. These are Jesus words to Martha: “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. Do you believe this?”

REFLECTION:

These words come from a very famous passage of scripture – the raising of Lazarus. John, the author of this book, has been building his Gospel to this point . He records seven miracles (signs) – so far we’ve covered six – which all point, in his view, to Jesus being God. This, the raising of Lazarus, is the final and perhaps the greatest sign.

It’s such an incredible event. We read about Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up! You would think, wouldn’t you, that John would spend some time telling us about what happens next? About what Lazarus did and said after he was resurrected? What was his reaction to this amazing miracle? But we don’t get any of that. Today’s reading ends with Jesus saying to the people at the now empty tomb, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Jesus is the one squarely in view – not Lazarus. John wants us to focus on Jesus – who he is and what he says. That’s what we’ve been considering so far this week. Jesus says, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’

And do you know what? It’s possible to read those words, to go to church, to even say ‘I’m a Christian’ and not really, in our heart of hearts, believe the truth that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. That he actually rose again. That he defeated death. And that through Him we can have victory over death too.

As I wrote this podcast, I was drawn back to a time when that really hit home to me. I was having a conversation with my wife, Jo. I’d only recently come to faith at this point. For some reason we were talking about death. We have such fun chats in our house! I’d begun to explain my understanding (in reality lack of understanding) about what happens when we die. I vividly remember Jo turning to me at one point and saying, ‘Well if I know where I am going, why worry about this stuff?’ She said it with such certainty that it really took me aback. And I remember thinking in that moment – Wow, I don’t think I really know that. Because for many years whenever I had pondered what death was like, the whole thing frightened me. The finality of it. The uncertainty. The thought of not existing any more really just unsettled me.

For so many people, this is the reality. This is how people think. Quite often, we don’t want to talk about death because the whole thing just totally freaks us out. For so many people the fear of death is very real.

Then we read in today’s passage, Jesus saying ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ And we see the demonstration of his authority and power to make that claim. He raises Lazarus. And what Jesus does for his friend, it’s a foretaste of what he will do for all mankind on the cross. He lays down his life for us and then three days later he takes it up again. He is the resurrection!

It’s true and that truth brings life . We often use the scripture here at STC – John 10:10. Jesus says, ‘I came that may have life and have it in all its fullness’. Through turning to Jesus, turning away from our sins and believing in him – we receive life. A real life with God now. But also Jesus gives us a forever life. An eternal life. John writes this later on in his Gospel, ‘This is what eternal life is that they (we) know God.’

We don’t have to fear death because we can know God! Death is not the end. We can know with certainty that there is a future for us, and for those we love who believe in Jesus, now and into eternity, and it’s with God.