Read John Chapter 11.

The eleventh chapter of John outlines the raising of Lazarus from the dead, an act that is the final straw for the Jewish authorities who are threatened by the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. After this miracle we are told that the powers that be make the decision that the Jesus movement must be stopped.

John sets the stage quickly for us. He tells us that a certain man named Lazarus, loved by Jesus, has taken deathly ill. Lazarus has two sisters well-known to NT readers, Mary and Martha. When word reaches Jesus he intentionally delays his journey back to Bethany by two days. There is a discussion amongst Jesus and the disciples about the wisdom of going back to Judea especially to a town so near to Jerusalem given the heightened tensions between Jesus and the authorities. Jesus and the twelve return and Jesus confronts death with victory to reveal the glory of God.

Why does Jesus delay?

Chances are good that your Bible has a subtitle to this chapter like “the death of Lazarus” or “the raising of Lazarus”. Because of this it is easy to miss out on something profound. I want to suggest to you that this is really a story about Martha.

We are told that Jesus loves Lazarus and his family. John actually tells us this in two different ways and the difference is significant. When the message is sent to Jesus about how sick Lazarus is the wording is “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.” (11:3). The word for loved used her is philo, the Greek word that describes the bonds of fidelity and friendship that yokes people together one to another. It is a word for love that captures that connection but can also be used for the love that is appreciative. In the United States, the city of Philadelphia, gets its name from this Greek word: hence, “the City of Brotherly Love”. In verse 5 though a different word is used, “Now, Jesus loved Martha, and her sister and Lazarus.” Agape is the word used here. Agape is the word for the sacrificial love that renders itself selflessly for the other. This is the love that exists regardless of the worth of the other; love that continues regardless of the response of the other. It is the love that God shows in John 3:16 and the love that Jesus commands for us to show one another in John 14:34.

Two things have been revealed in verse 5. The depth of the love Jesus had for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus; and that Martha is mentioned first. This is our clue that the story is about her.

Jesus delays his return for two days and then sets out for Bethany and arrives too late. Lazarus has been dead for four days. When he arrives, he remains on the edges of town. The community and the family are gathered together in mourning. Today we would say that they are sitting Shiva, a designated week of mourning, to show respect to the deceased and their loved ones. Martha receives word that Jesus has arrived and goes out to greet him. They have a terse exchange. “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died” (verse 21). I cannot help but think that she has an anguished, perhaps even accusatory tone. Her brother, whom she loves is dead, and the one that she knows could have done something to prevent it has not acted.

You know this feeling.

All of us have lost a loved one to death. All of us have known a tragedy where we had hoped and prayed that God would change the outcome. All of us know this pain.

Some will say, but wait, Martha also indicates that even in this pain she knows that Jesus can do something. She is not angry she is simply stating the obvious and asking him to act now. While I can see that in the rest of the verse as well, the fact that Mary says the same thing a few verses later tells me that the recrimination is there. Also, it is human nature. Grief is deep pain. I think the story speaks more truthfully when we hear it with all the angst we know she must have felt. “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not be dead”.

It is useful to compare verses 20 and 32. Martha we are told went out to Jesus and spoke to him. Mary when she goes out “quickly” to meet Jesus she falls at his feet and says the very same words “Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died”. See the distinction? Martha confronts Jesus. Mary takes a prostrate position, a worshipful stance. Mary’s response reads more like the lament of the faithful, seeking to understand God’s inaction.

Before we go on a reminder of what else we know about Martha and Mary. In Luke’s gospel we have a short story about a time that Jesus stayed in the sisters’ home. Mary remains at the feet of Jesus neglecting the usual hosting duties of a Jewish woman. Martha is left to handle all the details. Remember Jesus has an entourage of disciples there were likely a great many people about the house that day. When Martha asks the Lord to tell Mary to help Jesus replies “Martha, Martha you are worried and bothered by so many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part which shall not be taken from her” (Luke 10:41-42).

Back to John chapter 11. We might say that Martha and Mary are still “on brand”.

Why did Jesus delay? Because this story is about his love for Martha. This is Martha’s moment. This is when she will be moved from an understanding of who Jesus (knowledge) is into a relationship with Jesus (knowing). To put it a different way, Jesus has delayed so that he can reveal the truth about himself in such a way that Martha will no longer just have a faith that is all in her head but a faith that is mind, heart, and soul.

Allow me to show you what I mean. There is a pattern in John’s gospel wherein conversations with Jesus result in statements and questions geared toward bringing the person into a deeper faith and understanding about who Jesus truly is (Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman for example). When confronted by Martha, Jesus responds saying “Your brother will rise again”. Martha says “Yes, Lord, I know that he will arise again in the resurrection on the last day”. Good theologian, Martha, she knows the facts about the resurrection on the day of Judgment when some are raised to eternal life (second life) in the kingdom come and some are raised to judgment and damnation (second death).

“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).

Even in English we can see the distinction that is present. Martha says that she knows that her brother will rise for the judgment at the end of the age. Jesus wants to take her into a deeper understanding. Knowledge alone is not good enough. He is asking about belief, about faith. Not to get too granular in detail but know that there are two different verbs at work in this exchange. There is a different Greek word Martha has used for knowledge than the Greek word that Jesus has answered back as belief.

Jesus question is a next-level question. He wants to move Martha past an understanding of who he is based on knowing the “right” answers into a relationship with him that produces a living faith. He wants her head knowledge to be strengthened by heart knowledge that renders a faith that produces trust. Jesus wants to help Martha reach the sort of faith that is found in the greatest commandment: “you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”

Martha’s answer reveals that she isn’t quite there yet. “I have believed that you are the Christ, the son of God, the one coming into the world.” Don’t get me wrong, this is a strong statement. Everything that she says of Jesus is true; and she uses the same Greek word in response to Jesus that gets translated as belief. All this is good, but her answer does not answer the question Jesus asked.

“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26). The question that was asked was not does she believe that he is the Christ, the son of God. Jesus knows that she knows this. The question being asked is does she believe in him; does she trust him?

Martha has the right knowledge, but it hasn’t moved from things that she knows like other stuff that she knows into something that changes the way that she lives. There are literally millions of Christians just like her. Perhaps you are one of them.

Have you ever heard a sixth-grade band concert? It is a painful experience. Why? Besides the fact that some of the kids are just there because they didn’t want to use athletics as an elective the concert is painful because the notes are just being performed as the individual notes. Each player of each instrument is remembering the difference between a quarter note and a dotted quarter note and where that note is on the staff to produce a sound. In other words, they are beginners. They have knowledge but they do not have the heart component yet. They are not feeling the music.

Some of those young players will go on to be pretty good at their instruments and some will play in a stage band. Here you will begin to hear real music. The players have moved passed the basic understanding of notes into feeling the rhythm and movement of the song. They have made a step passed simple knowledge and it has impacted their musical talent and results of their playing.

Now, contrast that with a professional jazz trio or quartet. Here you see something altogether different and wonderful. These players work off of one another and are able to seamlessly perform solos and improvisations of the theme and melody of the music. They have something beyond simple knowledge of music theory they have a trust in the theory and in each other. They become limitless as musicians when they achieve this level.

Do you see how this can be compared to the believer that learns to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength? Those believers know how to trust in the Lord in every season and in every instance. Likewise, they also are able to learn how to love their neighbor in all instances because they have integrated their head and heart knowledge to Christ.

Lest you think that knowledge–belief–trust is a continuum, I want you to picture it more like this:

This is not the best rendering (figuratively and literally) but the point is to not think that you start with knowledge and go into belief to get to trust. A person can start with either belief or knowledge, but what the Lord desires is for them to develop trust. Martha’s sister, Mary, seems to be on the belief side of the equation. This is seen in that although she comes out to greet Jesus with a worshipful stance she still says, “Had you been here my brother would not have died”.

Some readers may not be convinced about these assertions, but they do continue playing out in this story about Martha. They arrive at the tomb and Jesus tells them to unseal it. Martha questions the wisdom of this because of the stench that is sure to be unleashed. Head knowledge, again. Her brother has been dead for four days. Note the response that Jesus says to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you will see the glory of God?”

(I was today’s years old when I learned that in John 11:4 when Jesus says that the sickness of Lazarus is not unto death, but that God will be glorified that this is the message that he sent back to the sisters and not something that he said to the disciples when he received the message.)

Jesus had told Mary and Martha that their brother’s illness would not be unto death. This is why the conversation about him being the resurrection and the life happens. This is why the recrimination in the statement ‘had you been here my brother would not have died”. This is why the delay. Jesus has not only created the conditions for the great sign-act of raising Lazarus from the grave, but he has also created a moment to draw Martha deeper into faith.

At the tomb, there is a representative of all of us. There is Martha, full of knowledge, worried about a great many things but lacking the deeper move into the trust that that knowledge should lead. There is Mary who believes in Jesus but also still needs to go deeper into trust. There are folks in the crowd that want to wait and see what will happen. There are some in the crowd who believe in Jesus but who still doubt what he can do. Finally, there are those who do not believe at all and are even antagonistic to the whole thing.

If you find yourself in the latter groups, the time is now for you to start a relationship with Jesus. Do not delay.

Scripture warns that we are to seek out the Lord while he may be found. While the good news is that Jesus comes to us, through the Holy Spirit, calling us both into faith and into faith deeper still, the admonition to seek while he may be found reveals that there is a time when it will be too late.

John has recorded for us Martha’s moment. For all of us there will come a time, maybe even several moments, when the Lord is going to call us into a deeper trust of who He is. How we respond will make all the difference. For even Jesus himself warned there will be those who will insist that they called him Lord and he will reply that he never knew them.

Have you had your own Martha moment? Ask the Lord for eyes to see and ears to hear so that you do not miss the next one.

Feel free to use this Bible Study for your own groups or discussion.  It is freely given. If you do I merely ask that you acknowledge where you got it and if you find it useful that you encourage others to seek it out. It is freely given and written with fear, foreboding, and prayer by a fellow hypocrite who is simply trying to figure out the road ahead.