This past summer, I attended the SING! Conference, hosted by Keith and Kristyn Getty. While there, I heard Joni Eareckson Tada cast a vision for what the resurrection must mean for the physically and mentally disabled. She shared how the first thing she hoped to do in heaven after regaining the use of her legs was to kneel before God. This was because, growing up in church traditions that made space for confessional kneeling, she was not able to participate in this part of the liturgy, although her confidence in God’s goodness was obvious. I believe the resurrection, which means a literal “raising up,” has a secondary layer of beauty for those who cannot raise themselves physically now.
When Martha confesses belief that her brother Lazarus will rise again on the last day, Jesus tells her that He is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Although Martha already believed in the coming resurrection, she didn’t appear to fully understand that Christ Himself was the embodiment of it. I imagine this is why Jesus explains how those who believe in Him will live on even after death and asks her: “Do you believe this?” (v.26).
The idea of Jesus raising her brother from the dead that day was almost too good to be true for Martha. It was a big ask. Her cheeks still wet with tears of grief, she knew that she would see her brother again, but it felt like hoping against hope that Jesus would revive his breath when so many others didn’t get that privilege. Four days in, surely Lazarus was gone (v.17).
To Martha, the resurrection at the end of history was a detached concept. It provided her with hope, but only a futuristic hope that barely touched her present grief. Jesus surprised her by bringing her brother back to life with the simple command of “Lazarus, come out!” (v.44).
One of my best friends told me once that “Truth is a Man.” It’s always stuck with me. Although, for some, Christianity may just be a system of strung together theological concepts (our human attempt to understand God), the center of the gospel is the person of Jesus Christ—who has skin and bones. Our whole faith history, before and after the incarnation, must now be interpreted through that earth-shattering event. This Man, who is also fully God, has the power to resurrect all things—our physical bodies and hearts and even the empty places that don’t have a name.
Whether, like Joni Earechson Tada, you’re one of the walking wounded who feel stuck or held back by physical and mental disadvantages, or you simply feel the toll of being human, the hope of the resurrection is that it is here, now—because He is here, now. Because Christ is in us, the same Spirit’s power that raised Him from the dead is in us, too (Romans 8:11). What a crazy and humbling thought that is.
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43 thoughts on "I Am the Resurrection and the Life"
Raise me up Lord. Let that same spirit live in me today.
Such a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing!
I’m moved by the verse “33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” —- in light of the hurt in the world right now I’m encouraged to know Jesus is deeply moved my our hearts, our weeping… His love is so deep for us. He sees us in the deepest part of our hearts.
I find myself consistently seeing myself whenever I read about Martha. She is a woman who sees Jesus and loves Him and believes in Him, but sometimes she is busy or distracted or overrun with grief or “duty”. It is comforting to see how Jesus interacts with Martha, because I see how He interacts with me in similar ways.
Jesus is LIFE
I lost my first pregnancy. After I became pregnant again, I went and bought a second test to just make sure. On the way home, I heard God’s voice ask “Do you not trust me?” I never took the second test. I want to have unwavering faith in Christ, who He is, and his faithfulness. God, please help me to trust You in the valleys and on the mountains.
It would have been nice if the author of the devotional could have spelled Joni’s name CORRECTLY!
Lord, thank you for your tremendous grace and love! Please take these dry and weary bones of mine and breath your life back into them, waking me up and spurring me on to do your works in this broken world.
The scripture shook me this morning with the image of God taking dry bones and covering them with sinew, flesh and filling them with breath. I’m reminded that he can do this and does it all the time in many ways. I tend to forget it or not see it. The realization for me today that this image is also the image of my soul as brought to life from dry, dead bones because of his atoning sacrifice brought me to an ugly cry this morning. I long for the world to know the truth of what is to be gained in Christ. Lord, help me to remember this today and every day!
I’m in awestruck of how God always brings what we need back to the front of our minds and hearts. The simple “Do you believe this” in John 11:26
It brings me back to my drive home listening to Jesus Culture sobbing at the simple but powerful phrase “ I believe in you, I believe in you, I believe in you, your the god of miracles.” As an adult faith doesn’t come as easy as when you were a child. We are far more logical as we grow up, the human nature demands explanations to the whys in life that can’t always be answered.
When I read that “Do you believe this?” I’m reminded of the little boy in Polar Express ringing that bell over and over desperately saying I believe until he say Santa. From that moment on, he believed in the magic the rest of his life. I feel like that is what Jesus wants of us is to take that leap of faith and believe effortlessly like a child believe in Santa in him. To stop holding onto the need to understand everything and just trust in him to bring us to life in ways we didn’t even know we needed.
This is so encouraging. I had never read the Ezekiel passage before but I’ve heard people refer to it countless times. I’m around a lot of people who don’t know Jesus and it’s heart breaking. Lord, bring the dry bones on campuses across the world back to life. Breath into their lifeless lungs as you open their hearts to who you are. Take out their hearts if stone. I also ask that you do this for my family Lord. Renew them and give them life here and now so they may know you and be resurrected in the time to come. Use me in their lives however you will and bind my heart to yours so I may be faithful until the resurrection by your grace alone. Amen
Thank you Lord for being my resurrection and life.
Audrey, very well said and so very true!!! Thank you for your words and honesty in all of your posts. I’m so glad to be a SRT sister of yours❤️
This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. I know in 11:4 Jesus is saying Lazarus coming back to life will lead to His crucifixion. I am amazed that God used Lazarus as an example of His love for each and everyone of us. Lazarus isn’t just Lazarus… Lazarus can be anyone of us. We all have an illness that either has killed us or is close to killing us. It can be physical/ emotional illness or a major sin, like pride, that ends in death of spirit. Jesus died in the cross because the one He loves is sick. That is each of us!! He feels our pain and weeps for us like He did for the family. He may not awaken us in a timeframe we want. It may be four days/ months/ years/ decades when we stink before we are called to come out. But in the end we must trust He knows what will bring Him the most glory and us the most healing. Seeing God do this for many people from Lazarus to Paul and then to think and do it for me? Jesus loves me so much that after years of being spiritually dead in the tomb of stinking from the rot of sin, pain, and suffering. He found my tomb, removed the stone, and called me out by name to come out and live again. Thank you Jesus for saving me. I love you so much. May I continue to praise your name and bring YOU glory!!
I needed to hear this tonight. I’m very new to the love of Jesus and believing and I grapple with blind faith over and over. But your post… this made sense! Thank you!
What a beautiful story Patty! Thank you for sharing it with us.
I was struck by “ the truth is a man” and I’m Turning that into “my truth is a man flesh and blood Jesus “.
Two thoughts…the lyrics from Jeremy Camp’s “Same Power” immediately came to mind reading today’s commentary:
The same power that rose Jesus from the grave
The same power that commands the dead to wake
Lives in us, lives in us
The same power that moves mountains when He speaks
The same power that can calm a raging sea
Lives in us, lives in us
He lives in us, lives in us
Also, I’m a retired Special Ed teacher. I’ve worked with adults with developmental disabilities. My brother-in-law had developmental challenges also. I look forward to that day when I am blessed to see my former students whole and healed. I lost a student some years ago, a charming 7 year old Downs child with red hair and a smile that lit up a room. Ryan succumbed to pneumonia. God blessed me that day at the funeral home when He gave me a glimpse into glory…Ryan’s adult cousin was in attendance…the grown-up version of Ryan complete with red hair and smile, perfect in every way!! A brief vision of how Ryan is now, not how I saw him that day. Not as he was in my classroom.
He is the Resurrection and the Life, then, now, here and forever! Praise the Holy Name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus!
It was so encouraging to look at this from a different light. Jesus is not just the resurrection of life in regards to life itself (raising the dead) and even eternal life (our sinful death), but over the dead things in our life. He can resurrect dead marriages and relationships, dead creativity…he can redeem and restore and give new life to any area of our life.
I love the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, it’s one of my favorites! Jesus gave His disciples a hint of what He would do in vs 4 when He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son Of God may be glorified through it.” But still, they just didn’t get it. I can’t belittle them for it though, because how many times have I “not got it”? I am so thankful that Jesus and our Heavenly Father are so patient with me. They will keep on giving opportunities to learn – until I do get it! Thank you God for your mercies that fail not! Also, this Ezekiel passage keeps coming up. It has been such an encouragement to me as my church has gone through some difficult times this past year. Ezekiel 37 reminds me that it is God, and God alone who can breath new life into our souls and into our churches!They said, “our hope is lost” but God said, “I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live…” (vs 11 & 14) If that doesn’t give me hope – nothing will! I look forward expectantly to what God is going to do in our future!
“And I will put my Spirit within you and you will live!”- God can use all things, even dry bones, to accomplish His purpose. His power is unmatched! Lord, help me remember this when my problems seem too big and my faith is too small. Thank you for the reminder that you are life giving.
I have a brother who is mentally handicapped. He has been so all his life and he turned 60 this year. When we were growing up the term used then was mentally retarded. So, on a side note I hate when people call people retarded. Today from what I’ve learned and read he is probably on the autistic scale somewhere.. he loves sports, especially the Saints and LSU. He can remember scores from long ago and keeps a notebook of all games he watches. He loves his computer, his tv, and old tv shows and he absolutely loves to talk- and meet people. Reading Joni’s statement of being able to kneel just reminded me again how beautiful heaven will be when I can see my brother whole, it just brings tears to my eyes to think how glorious that will be. His dry “mind” will be active and clear and raised to a new life.
Jesus provided His disciples with a hint: John 11:11 He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,e but I’m on my way to wake him up.”
We probably all know this story but the disciples lived it as each detail unfolded. This provides hope and peace for all of us. Our current situations might be so serious like Lazarus’s but to God, it is as simple as waking someone that sleeps.
Blessed are You Lord God King of the Universe that You have given us all that we need to know through Your Word!
Today’s scripture is rich with meaning and full of the glory of God. I never tire of re-visiting the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. What struck me this time is that while Mary and Martha were confident in Jesus’ ability to heal their brother, it never occurred to them that He could or would raise him from the dead…hence all the grief. And I , in my moments of shallow faith do the same thing…pray for a certain outcome and place my own limits on what He can/will do. Lord, I truly repent. Lord, I believe…please help Thou my unbelief!
Martha is one of my favorite people in the Bible because I can relate to her. Too many times, I am like Martha. Too busy to reflect, to pray, to believe fully. Often, I am caught up in the “I must get this done” phase instead of being like Mary sitting at His feet.
Thank you ladies for your beautiful and heartfelt thoughts this morning.
Again with Ezekiel 37. It gets me every time. Something about that passage just brings me to tears. If I could get on my knees physically I would be there.
Just the thought of the Lord filling these dry bones with His Spirit can be so overwhelming. I am so grateful that He does.
Thank you Lord, for how you Love me. How you fill me again and again.
Blessings and peace to you sisters.
Holy Spirit burn within me and renee my faith and hope. Jesus, I want to know you even more and have faith that moves mountains. Forgive my doubt. Amen.
“Truth is a Man”. Jesus is a person. I can relate to Him, I can talk to Him. My belief is not in a lot of Theological concepts strung together. I need a Man of Truth to believe in. How awesome of God to come to earth as a man to show us Himself. When I made the shift from trying to follow the law to having a relationship with God, it transformed me.
John 11:5-6 — [5] Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. [6] So, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was.” WHAT? WHY? I thought that when you love someone you show them your love for them by being there and helping out in any way you could? This was exactly Martha’s and Mary’s expectations also (see verses 21 and 32). So, why did Jesus stay longer when He heard a close friend was sick. Because He wanted to grow faith. Usually the best way for our faith to grow is in the situations that seem hopeless and cause much suffering. If Jesus has immediately gone to them to heal Lazarus, their faith in Him would have remained as it was because they would have seen what He had done before, but He did something that no one else had witnessed before and it grew the faith of those who witnessed it and chose to trust Jesus. So, when going through a hopeless situation, or a time of delayed expectation, remember God had a greater purpose in mind. He loves you so much that He wants to grow the faith that you have. He wants to take your small seed of faith and grow it into a tree, large and mighty (Luke 13:18-19).
Thank you for this Angie. Brought tears to my eyes ❤️
Sat here sobbing as I read Joni Eareckson Tada’s hope of her first thing to do in heaven when her body is made whole again … to kneel before God. Wow … that totally threw me. Physically healthy, when did I last kneel? Overwhelmed by that conviction.
I was overwhelmed by that as well. Thank you for sharing
I was overwhelmed by that post as well. Thank you for sharing so that I might not feel so alone.
Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life,
yesterday,
tomorrow,
every present moment.
The six months of my mother-in-laws deadly cancer was a thin time
a time when we believed God could heal her if He chose to,
recognizing also that sometimes His best is to take us home.
The dailyness of our lives melded away while the moments stretched into magnitude.
She is wholely healthy and in the presence of Jesus now.
There is a statue in a museum of an elderly woman preparing to walk through a door.
Jesus is on the other side. The statue has her in this present state – wrinkled, bent, and weary.
But as her hand passes through the door the other side is different, totally different
She is young, vibrant, joyful, full of life and strength as she reaches Jesus.
Death does not hold the same weight upon us as the unbelieving.
Jesus has made a way.
We have been resurrected into new life
When he opened our tombs we were just as stinky as Lazarus.
But we have been given new life.
The harder question is, do I live it?
Jesus, I have been resurrected to live this life for you.
May I live and breath in thin places, guided by the Holy Spirit, empowered by the blood of Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead. May I live, alive in Christ, bringing honor and glory to the Father, for that is what matters in this day and, you have already got this. I believe.
Love this! Thanks Angie!
Amen, Angie, amen!
Beautiful- & true!
This morning I am fixated on Lazarus coming out of the to,b wrapped in strips of linen. He heard Jesus’s voice calling him from the darkness of death. He obeyed His command to come out into the light but he still needed to be loosed layer by layer in order to see Jesus fully revealed standing before him. I am Lazarus! I heard his precious voice call me in the darkness of my sin years ago as a child. I obeyed His command and came into His light. Now He continues to be revealed to me as His Word, prayer, worship, and fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ remove the strips of my human attitudes, desires, and motivations so that I can not only see Jesus more clearly, but He can be seen in me more clearly with each layer removed until I stand in His glory and see Him face to face! He is my resurrection! Thank you, Lord, for calling me from the darkness into your light!
The question Jesus asks in John 11:26 hits me hard every time I read it. “Do you believe this?” I can come to Jesus confidently with my own “big ask” because I know Who He is and what He has done and can do. I know His great love. But there have been times when I’m wobbly in my faith and confused about the purpose of my circumstances. I come back to the question of do I believe. Some days my answer is a strong “Yes!” and sometimes it’s a whispered “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” I have dry bones days and I’m grateful I can call out to the Holy Spirit. I ask Him to keep on breathing through me even as He did when first I believed. Holy Spirit, fall fresh on me. Give me renewed life and stand me on my feet. Settle my soul as I place my trust once again in You. Amen.
Yes, Churchmouse, I have had the same experience in my walk. In fact, this am, before reading the scripture for today, I breathed the prayer, please help my unbelief. Of course today’s reading proceeded to do just that. Beautiful, immediate answer from His word. The answers don’t always come so quickly, but when they do….let’s just say it’s a great way to start the day!
Amen
Thank you for sharing the reality of those dry bone days, contrasting with the greatest reality of the power of His Spirit and His love.
37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” 36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” Both groups communicated in a way that indicated that they think Jesus could raise Lazarus. Although one group appeared to be sympathizers and another critic. Even, enthusiastic Martha didn’t believe he could raise Lazarus neither did laid back Mary. Once when I was reading Ezekiel to my 5-year-old, she didn’t question me why the person was speaking to bones but rather she said ” can bones hear? Hmmm, this got me. What these scriptures are saying that it doesn’t matter the situation, how dead the situation is ”God has said it, so He would do ”. The miracle does not end there, the bones became an army! Mind you Jesus risked his life to go to Judea because he was at risk of being stoned. He has already died for us. Let’s walk into it.