Author: Bryan Jay

John 11 is well-known for the amazing miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, but what is the significance of this amazing miracle?  As John makes clear at the end of his gospel, all of the signs and wonders of Jesus that he records are for the purpose of making clear who this Jesus is (see John 20:31)

So Jesus’ conversation with Martha in these verses is extremely important for understanding the significance of Lazarus’ resurrection.  Let’s dive in and meditate on this short, but profound conversation.

First of all when Jesus says in v. 23, “your brother will rise again,” he doesn’t just make Lazarus’ resurrection a possibility, contingent on someone’s faith or action.  It is a bare statement of fact… of his intention to raise Lazarus:  “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha’s reply affirms her belief in the bodily resurrection at the end of time.  The pharisees believed in this, but it would be interesting to research what they actually believed about this resurrection.  Was it a resurrection only for the faithful, or of all people to judgment?  Whatever it was, it is apparent that Martha’s affirmation refers to something other than what Jesus is referring to.  For Martha, “the resurrection” is an event, but according to Jesus, “resurrection” is a person who is standing before her!

Jesus immediately explains the sense in which he is “the resurrection.”  His statement that follows has two parts:

“He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live”

“Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

“He who believes in me, though he die…” parallels, “Everyone who lives and believes in me.”

Both are referring to those who believe in Jesus, but in the first statement, the believer in Jesus dies, presumably physically, like Lazarus.  In the second statement, the believer in Jesus lives, again presumably physically.  So we have 1) a believer in Jesus who dies physically and 2) a believer in Jesus who lives physically.

Jesus says of the believer who dies physically, “yet shall he live.”  And he says of the believer who is still alive physically, that he, “shall never die.”  This final part of the two declarations is referring to the spiritual life or death of the believer.  In the first case, Jesus is saying that for the one who believes in him, physical death is not the end.  Such a one will yet live.  And in the second case, he is saying that for the believer in him who has not died physically, that one shall never die spiritually.

Both statements are ways of expressing the reality that the life that Jesus gives is an indestructible spiritual life that cannot be touched by physical death.  There is therefore hope for the believer who has died physically (and for those who grieve that one), as well as hope for those believers who have not yet died physically.  Both will receive eternal life.

Jesus, as “the resurrection and the life” is not just the dispenser of this eternal life, as if it were a commodity that he doled out, but he is the source of this life.  He is the life.  As John says later in his epistle, “God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his son.” (1 John 5:11)  We don’t believe in Jesus therefore, in the sense that we believe he is able to give eternal life, but rather we believe in Jesus in the sense of entrusting ourselves to him such that he becomes our life.  We don’t receive eternal life as something separate from Christ that he gives us, nor do we receive it as something alongside Christ that he gives us as he comes to us, but rather we receive eternal life in Christ, as we receive him.  He is life, and to receive him is to receive the life that is in him. (see also John 5:21, 25–29; 6:39–40, 20:31)

So when Jesus says, “Do you believe this?”  that question takes on additional meaning in light of what he has just said about belief in him.  Granted, one could make the argument that it is possible to believe Jesus’ affirmation without believing in Jesus and receiving the life, but one could also argue that it is not possible to truly believe what Jesus is saying here without also believing in him.  If one is not willing to entrust himself to Jesus, then he shows by that unwillingness his unbelief in the truth of Jesus’ affirmation.

It would be possible for anyone hearing what Jesus is saying to Martha here to understand his words only in a physical material sense.  It might appear that Jesus is saying that belief in him will result in that person being brought back to life after death at some point, perhaps at the end-time resurrection, and that Jesus is also saying that the one who believes in him will never die physically.  Such a claim would be hard to believe, even though it could be understood that way.

But it is significant that Martha does not reply to Jesus’ statement with an affirmation of her belief in something that Jesus might do, but rather with a statement of her believe in who Jesus is.  I believe this points to the fact that Martha was expressing a belief that was of the nature of a personal entrusting of herself to Jesus.  She may have not even fully understood his statement, but she nevertheless expressed her confidence in him as being the anointed Son of God.

Martha’s expression, “…who is coming into the world” shows that she is relating what she confesses here about Jesus to the prophecies that such a one would come.

There is no indication here that Martha had any expectation of what Jesus might do (or not do) next.  Lazarus’ physical resurrection is not related at all to this declaration on Martha’s part.  To the contrary, Martha’s confession of faith in Jesus is actually the more eternally significant event in this chapter, of which Lazarus’ physical resurrection is simply a confirming sign!!  Martha, according to Jesus’ own promise made in vs. 25-26 receives eternal life in Jesus as she puts her faith in him.  All Lazarus receives is a temporary restoration of his physical life!  But Lazarus’ resurrection from the dead is a picture of the spiritual life that Jesus has just promised to Martha

And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And he marveled because of their unbelief. (Mark 6:5-6)

We often understand this verse to be saying that Jesus was limited by the unbelief of the people contrary to his desire to do mighty works.  But this is not the correct interpretation of this verse.  The limitation comes not from the absence of faith, thus making Jesus powerless, as if the power to do mighty works comes from the faith of the people (the way many see this passage).  Rather the limitation lies in God’s sovereign withholding of mighty works due to the unbelief of the people.  Thus, the phrase, “he could do no mighty work” points to a restriction placed on him by the Father not willing that Jesus should do mighty works in Nazareth.

This interpretation is especially confirmed by the almost parallel passage in Luke 4:23-27.

²³ And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” ²⁴ And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. ²⁵ But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, ²⁶ and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

Here it is clear that God sovereignly determined to do mighty works not in Israel, but in the land of Sidon, and with Naaman, a Syrian.

When God does mighty works, it is an act of his grace done for any number of different sovereign purposes he may have for those works (and there are several mentioned in Scripture).  When he does not do those works it is because of our unbelief.  No one can “claim” a miracle by meritorious faith, and no one can begrudge the lack of a miracle because apart from grace God finds us all in the same state of unbelief as these here in Nazareth.

In trying to apply this event in Jesus’ ministry to our current situation, I found myself wondering what the equivalent behavior to the selling of sheep, oxen and pigeons and exchanging of money would be.  If a youth group is selling brownies in the church lobby to raise money to build an orphanage in Africa, would that be similar?  What about Christian publishers who make loads of money off the sale of Christian books?

These merchants and moneychangers were facilitating the rituals prescribed by the law.  People needed to buy the animals in order to offer the sacrifices and evidently they needed to change money in order to buy the animals.  

I find it difficult to draw a direct parallel between the actions of the merchants in the temple and certain practices/activities in the church today.  In other words, on the basis of this passage, it’s difficult to make statements like, “it is wrong to make a profit on anything that derives from the church’s ministry and practice.”  Or, “it is wrong to transact any kind of commerce in a church building.”

Of course, the modern equivalent of the temple that Jesus cleansed is not our church buildings, but the Body of Christ, the spiritual temple.  So by analogy, could one say that it is wrong for a Christian publisher to make money on the sale of a book of theology that facilitates the religious practice of Christian people?

I don’t think the application is that cut and dry.  Jesus is correcting wrong heart attitudes here, and the passage only hints at what these were when Jesus refers to a “house of trade”.  This implies that for these people who are being disciplined, trade had become the most important reason for being in the temple.  For them, the temple was not a place to go to meet God in prayer and worship, but a place to go to make a buck.

If a Christian publisher is in the business primarily for the money–in other words if it is profit, pure and simple that drives the business–then that publisher is guilty of the same sin as these merchants.  If a church is only concerned about growth in numbers, status in the community, size of the budget, etc. then that church is also guilty of this sin.

But we should be careful not to miss the primary emphasis of this passage in our efforts to apply the sin of the merchants to our current situation.  The most important truth taught here is not that we as God’s people should avoid the sin of the merchants and moneychangers.  Rather, it is the authority of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus has authority to take up the whip of discipline in the church and purify it of any sin that may be distracting it from its purpose of glorifying and worshiping God.  Our response to this passage should be to ask the Lord Jesus to do this same purifying work in us as his people today, whether the sin is the same sin as these merchants or not is beside the point.  Jesus has authority to cleanse and purify the spiritual temple which is his church and we should desire this and seek it.

When Jesus is asked to give a sign showing his authority for this cleansing of the temple, he prophesies about the destruction of his body and his subsequent resurrection.  Because Jesus died and rose again he has authority over all temples, whether it be the temple of the old covenant, the new covenant spiritual temple which is his Body, the Church today, or the coming age in which the dwelling of God will be with man, and the entire new creation will be a temple in which Jesus will be worshiped and praised for all eternity.

So, yes, we should apply this passage by seeking to avoid repeating the sin that these merchants committed, but the way we will effectively do that is not only by identifying that sin and repenting of it, that’s only the first step.  The other side of that coin is worshiping the One who has authority over the temple–worshiping the One who is supreme over all and whose glory and greatness should be what motivates us in everything we do.  As we worship him, offering our lives to him as living sacrifices, we will not be guilty of making his house anything other than the house of worship that it is to be.