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Jesus said to her, “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—ever. Do you believe this?”

John 11:25–26, LSB

Our Lord lays out where our confidence is meant to lie with these words. Our trust is to be placed not in the idea of a resurrection, but in knowing its fulfillment is also meant for each of us who trust and follow Him. It isn’t an abstraction but a reality. Lazarus was just a warm-up because we know that, bodily, Lazarus died again and awaits the eternal resurrection that was shown to us all in Jesus. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. This is said clearly and boldly to us all. Martha trusted in the idea, but her heart was not yet believing the truth of our Lord and His promises. She needed the miracle. She needed further proof beyond the idea for faith to blossom. This is not uncommon in our fallen and broken humanity. Our human rationality demands proof of so much in our world, yet we often are duped into placing our faith in false things particularly ourselves. In placing our faith wholly in Christ, we find a pathway that will often be challenging when we lose our focus on Him. Like John stepping onto the water, the wind blows and draws our eyes from the face of our Lord and we begin to sink. Our Lord desires for our focus to remain steadily upon His face and in Him, find our peace.

Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.