Do You Believe This?

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying.  Everyone who lives in Me and believes in Me will never ever die. Do you believe this?” – John 11:25-26

At this point in the Bible text, Jesus has just arrived to Mary and Martha’s home after Lazarus has been dead for four days.  Martha goes out to see Jesus and says, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.   But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”  I believe that this is a very important element in Jesus’ response.  Without her faith in Him, the physical resurrection of Lazarus would not have benefited them spiritually.  For in the other story of Lazarus the beggar, Jesus clarifies this, but this is another discussion.

I find Jesus’ question essential to my life and that it applies to every area of my life.  Jesus says He can make the dead alive and that HE IS LIFE.  What area of my life is dead?  By Jesus’ definition, it is every area that He isn’t because only He is life.  Is my compassion for people dead?  Is my conviction of sin in my life dead?  Is my connection with other people dead and am I selfishly living to myself?  The Preacher’s sermon would say I need to open up and ask for Jesus. 

This sounds good from a pulpit, but how exactly do I do that?  Pray first and ask for help in knowing where I am dead or dying.  Acknowledge those areas that are dead or dying – admit I have those problems.  Then ask Jesus to bring those dead areas to life.   

The second sentence in Jesus’ response I believe is often miss-interpreted, but then again I might be mist-interpreting it myself.  He says that “anyone who believes in Me will live”.  I believe Jesus means NOW, not just when I die.  If I believe in Jesus I receive the His Spirit inside of me.  Where He is there is life.  So If I or anyone believes in Him they will live as His Spirit dwells in them now.  He then continues and clarifies this to mean eternally by saying “even after death”.  I think we focus too much on the living eternally and not enough on the living today, the now, in the fullness of Him. 

Finally He leads to His question for us by declaring that if we believe in Him we will never die.  He is saying that He lives forever.  We know we can’t, but do we believe He does.  “Do you believe this?” He follows this with bringing Lazarus back from the dead physically.  But everyone who believes him is brought back from the dead spiritually and this is the focus of everything Jesus did.  He wants us to live spiritually and we will never be healed, resurrected, or live unless we can answer His question with our heart with a resounding “YES!”