Today we celebrate the greatest event in human history! - The resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - We celebrate because we believe and are assured that Jesus really arose from the dead after being crucified on a cross and laid in the grave for three days. My friends, if this is all just a hoax and Jesus never arose from the dead, we have no foundation for our faith, and we become false witnesses and our faith is worthless. We are still in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:12-19). But Christ has been raised from the dead and our sins have been abolished! Praise the Lord!

I am sure many of you know the story about a family Jesus was very close to and loved very much. The three main characters of this story are Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. The miracle that Jesus performed in this story for His friend Lazarus foreshadows our resurrection on the last day.

The Bible tells us that Lazarus became ill and died. The family and their friends were devastated and they needed their friend Jesus to be with them. But after receiving word about the death of Lazarus through a messenger, Jesus didn’t come immediately. He waited two days and when He did come, Lazarus had been dead four days. This is where we will pick up the story today. 

17 When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem (about two miles away). 19 Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him. But Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22 Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” 23 “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. 24 Martha said, “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. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told Him, “I believe You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.” 

I chose this passage for our text today because I want us to look at the conversation between Martha and Jesus. I want you to see the growth of Martha's faith in Christ. Martha is known in Scripture for being a woman of action and energy. That can explain why she was the one who went out to meet Jesus first when she heard He was near.

At this point in her relationship with Jesus she had faith in Him and believed in Him but her faith seemed to be limited. She believed Jesus could heal her brother but questioned Him about why He waited for him to die before coming. After all, they had done so much for Jesus. Why did Jesus let Lazarus die? Martha had faith in Christ but not to the point of resting in Him.

Often this kind of questioning faith is a limited faith. It questions if Jesus has done what is best. It also questions if Jesus really knows what is best. It's like saying to Jesus, "if You had been here or acted differently, this trial or tribulation would not have happened." Martha must have felt convicted by saying this to Jesus because she says, 22 Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” But she was still limiting Jesus in saying this, because she was not grasping the idea that Jesus Himself was the Resurrection and Life.

Jesus responds to her with,  23 “Your brother will rise again." But Martha misunderstood, thinking Jesus was only talking about resurrection on the last day when all the dead in Christ will rise. She did have a fundamental understanding of faith in Christ. She believed in the resurrection, but her faith experienced disappointment. Even with the promise of a reunion with her brother in the last day, this was not comforting to her. Her brother was gone! She would never see him on earth again. Her life and her family were radically changed overnight. For her, the resurrection was so far in the future that it was little comfort.

So you can see how a fundamental understanding of faith in Christ is essential, but it is not all there is to faith in Christ. This kind of faith alone is not a faith that is living in the presence of Christ. The thing that is so desperately needed by Martha is also needed by all people; a living faith. It is a faith that is alive and vibrant, dynamic and moving, conscience and acting, communicating and fellowshipping. What is truly needed is the knowledge that Jesus, the One who stands before us, is the Resurrection and Life.