John 11:24Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Thus, when she said, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection, at the last day," He showed His power more clearly and said: "I am the resurrection and the life."

By this He indicates that He does not need the assistance of another, since He Himself is life.

If He needed another, how could He Himself be the resurrection and the life? Yet He did not say this plainly, but only hinted at it.

Then, because she had said, "Whatever You ask," He also says: "He who believes in Me, though he die, shall live." By this He shows that He Himself is the giver of blessings, and that from Him they must be asked.

Why, then, do you seek what you already have? Wait a little, and you will see grace.

Since Martha did not yet believe and did not understand the meaning of the words, "Your brother will rise again," she thought that he would rise at the last resurrection. Martha knew that there would be a last resurrection, partly from divine Scripture and still more from Christ's frequent discourses on the resurrection. Therefore, since the woman still remained a woman, the Lord raises her up and awakens her faith, as though it had died, speaking more clearly: "You say to Me that God will give Me whatever I ask of Him."

And the Lord, in His humility, did not say, "I will raise your brother," but, "He will rise." Indirectly He was reproving her, as if saying: he will rise, as you desire, but not as you think.

If you think to attain this through prayer and supplication, then offer prayers. But do not command Me, the Wonderworker, who by My own power can raise the dead man.

When the woman heard this, she feared to say, "Then raise him now." Yet, in a certain way, she urged Him to perform the deed at once. She seems to express dissatisfaction with the delay in time when she says, "I know that he will rise on the last day." Yet she desires to see her brother's resurrection before that time.

"Concerning that resurrection I am at peace. I am troubled about this one."

Therefore, when she had earlier said, "I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You," she did not mean that Jesus Christ would raise her brother. She meant that, in general, His request would not be rejected by God. Martha did not yet have a proper understanding of Jesus Christ. Even the disciples, who had seen and heard so many great things, did not yet have it.

Martha, again you know, yet you do not know. Martha, do you know that you do not know that your brother can rise here and now? Or can God, who will then raise all, not now raise one alone from the dead? God can, God can raise one from the dead as a sign of that time. God, who will then raise all to eternal life, can do this. Martha, before you stands the Resurrection which you put off to times so far away.

He said, "He will rise again," without defining the time, in order to purify her faith. Therefore she also says, "I know that he will rise again on the last day." If, He says, you believe in the future resurrection, then do not doubt the present one. I am the author of both.

In Bethany Martha met them, she who was always busy with household cares. As soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to Him from the house, and even from the village.

This showed that her faith and love for Jesus had not yet disappeared, even after the word of Jesus concerning Lazarus' illness had seemingly not been fulfilled.

Meanwhile Mary, immersed in her grief and not noticing what was happening around her, remained at home.

As soon as Martha saw Jesus, the sight of Him suddenly stirred in her soul the thought of losing her brother. It also stirred the thought of Jesus' power to preserve his life, which He had not chosen to show.

When Jesus Christ came to Bethany, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. At that time the customary seven-day Jewish mourning for the deceased was still continuing.

There were many acquaintances and relatives in the house of Martha and Mary. Among them were many who had come from Jerusalem, since Bethany was not far from Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.

When Martha heard that Jesus Christ was approaching their village, she went to meet Him. Mary remained at home among her relatives and acquaintances, who were sharing her grief over her dead brother.

Meeting the Lord, Martha expressed her regret before Him that He had not been there earlier. "For then," she said, "my brother would not have died."

Yet she receives Jesus' promise not with rapture, as one might have expected from her, but with a certain timidity. Crushed by grief, she fears to believe in her happiness. Wishing to test herself, lest she be mistaken in understanding Jesus' words in this sense and not another, she deliberately gives them another meaning in her answer, one that gives her no consolation. "I know that he will rise again on the last day, when all will be raised for judgment. But what consolation is there for me in that, when he is dead now?"

Martha understood this saying only in the sense of the universal resurrection of the dead. Since she hoped for something nearer and more immediate, this answer only increased her sorrow. With grief she answered only, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection, on the last day."

"Your brother will rise." In Martha's expression of faith in the Lord there was more strength than light. One could discern in her a stronger personal attachment to her brother.

The Lord wishes to elevate her faith. He frees it from the excess of this sensible attachment, transfers its object into the realm of the one thing needful, and concentrates it upon the greatness of His own person.

The Lord prepares Martha for the great miracle that is about to take place, yet one fearful for men. First He speaks veiledly about her brother's resurrection, without defining the time of this resurrection.

Martha has much faith and much love. Yet she does not yet understand the full identity of the Father and the Son, who reveals the Father in the humble form of man.

She still says, "Whatever You ask of God, God will give You." Yet she does not dare to hope that the Lord Jesus would ask God for her brother's resurrection now.

She believes in the general resurrection of the dead. She believes in the Lord's power. Yet she certainly does not know those unsearchable judgments of God by which the earthly resurrection of Lazarus had been foreordained.