I am the Resurrection

 John 11: 17b- 27 "So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

20 Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

I had been thinking lately about The Lord's interaction with Martha when Lazarus dies and she say's to the Lord,  " I know he'll be raised on the last day." The Lord's response puzzled me for a long time because what He says sounds like a correction even though what she said is true. He says, " I am the resurrection and the Life.... Do you believe this?" Martha doesn't know that He is about to raise her brother from the dead and so her hope is in the future resurrection of the dead; the hope that we believers also share. So why does the Lord seem to be correcting her and what is it that she, and so often we, fail to understand? It struck me that the message for all of us is the first two words, "I am." Not I was or I will be but I am. When we stand weeping at the grave of one we love we can know that although to us their resurrection seems to be a future event to the One who always is it is already done--That is why He says, "whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die."