John 11:17-27, 38-45
Fifth Sunday in Lent
Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Sunday, March 22, 2026
“Jesus Is the Life”
Have you ever had a “Lord, if you had been here” moment? I know you probably wouldn’t have called it that, but I suspect you can relate to having a moment of doubt or fear or misunderstanding. I’m talking about moments that are unexpected and powerful, and not in a good way. Maybe it’s when your reliable car is suddenly not available or reliable to you. You need it now, and the tire is flat, the window has fallen into the door, the windshield is cracked, or the transmission is shot. And you just can’t help but wonder why this is happening right when you need to get going. Maybe you think the interview went very well for the job that you really want, but a day later you learn that you aren’t in the company’s plans going forward. And you had your hopes up and feel deflated.
Or maybe your situation is so very similar to that of Martha in today’s Gospel, and a loved one, someone you care about deeply, has been taken away from you by death. Those moments can come when it just feels like God had a better plan and things were going in a good direction and it would have been really great if he just let you enjoy it, but he let something else get in the way instead. “If only,” you say. “If only God would have listened to what I wanted.” “If only he would have given me better options.” “If only you would have been here, Lord.”
That’s what Martha said when Jesus arrived on scene after the death of her brother, Lazarus. If we would have read several verses ahead of our text, we would have reminded ourselves that when Jesus was told that Lazarus was ill, he waited two days before going to Bethany. If we would have read the section in between the two portions of John 11 that we did read, we would have seen how Mary’s reaction was quite similar when she first saw Jesus. Did those sisters know that Jesus had delayed intentionally? Were they simply expressing their frustration? Or perhaps they were sincerely expressing their faith. If Jesus had chosen to act, if he had determined to do so, he could have prevented the situation they were in.
The situation was their brother was dead. He had been in the tomb for four days. There was no mistaking the situation. This was not a misdiagnosis. Lazarus was dead. There seemed to be nothing to do except to mourn.
But Jesus had other plans. Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Jesus had a promise. He had power. The situation was far from hopeless. And Martha seemed to understand, to an extent.
Her response: “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.”
What a beautiful confession! What amazing confidence! In the midst of her mourning and frustration and uncertainty, she was still certain of God’s promises. Believers in the Lord would be raised to life. This was a truth believers knew even before Jesus fully revealed everything he came to do, even before he fulfilled all the prophecies that spoke of a Savior and salvation. But that was not all that Jesus had in mind, at least on this occasion.
What Jesus had in mind on this occasion was a special display driving home this truth. The resurrection, he would show, was not only a future hope. It was a present reality. It was a reality because of him. In fact, it was a reality so completely connected to and wound together in Jesus that he could identify himself as life and resurrection. That’s what Jesus did for Martha. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish.” Jesus doesn’t just cause life. Jesus doesn’t just give life. Jesus is life.
And God wants us to believe this. Jesus asked Martha, “Do you believe this?”
And for the second time, Martha launches into a most beautiful confession. “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” What took so many around Jesus way too long to realize and recognize, Martha knew and believed. He was the one
God had promised. He was the one so many had been waiting for. He was the one to change everything. He was the anointed one, the Christ, the Son of God.
Martha made her bold confession and soon witnessed along with the crowd Jesus putting on display who he is and what he is capable of. Out he went to the tomb of his dear friend, Lazarus. He commanded that they roll away the stone that sealed him in. “What a terrible idea,” they said. “Four days it’s been. It stinks.” The same Martha who had made a bold and beautiful confession questioned whether it made sense to listen to the Christ, the Son of God.
And it is so easy to find ourselves there, isn’t it? Jesus is the Christ. He is my Lord and Savior. He will take me to be with him in heaven one day. But what do I do now, and especially in these moments that seem like they should have been or could have been different? What do I do now in these moments of “Lord, if you had only been here”? Do I really listen to him? Do I search his Word for answers to my problems and questions and issues? Do I listen to what he tells me even if the people around me tell me something different? Even if it doesn’t feel right to me? Jesus, I know you are the Christ, but the tomb is going to stink. Jesus, I know you are my Savior, but why don’t you just let me do what I want? Live how I want? I know you are the Son of God, but does it really make sense to come to your church every single week? Maybe twice or more often? Does it really make sense for me to confess you when others might ridicule me?
Jesus did not come down hard on Martha, but he did remind her. “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So the matter was settled. They opened to tomb. And Jesus cried out. He commanded Lazarus to come out of the tomb. Dead and buried for four days. Sealed in the tomb. If anyone else had called, Lazarus would not have listened. He could not. But this was Jesus. This was the voice of the Son of God, the Christ who had come into the world. Dead Lazarus heard that voice because that voice had the power to make the dead alive. And Lazarus walked out of his tomb.
There was no longer any “If only you had been here.” Jesus was here. Jesus is here. No moment is too big for him. He is here for every moment. And at his word, it was as if Lazarus had never died. And Jesus brings the same power and the same care and the same love to your every moment. That is the promise of this event.
The promise to you is not that this will happen in your own experience. There will still be times when it feels as though something different could have and should have happened. You will still face sadness and loss and pain. You may very well have to say goodbye to another loved one, and their tombs may not be opened up four days later to give them back. Even Lazarus was back on earth only to die again.
But he was a powerful testimony to who Jesus was and what he could do. Jesus had demonstrated his power over our most significant problem. There really is no arguing. What could be a more significant problem for our lives than death? So if he has power over the most significant problem we face, what does that mean for our host of less significant problems? He has power over them, too. No, his promise is not to make your problems disappear now. His promise is to ultimately make your problems disappear. His promise is not happiness now. His promise is joy forever. His promise is that there is no moment in your life about which you will need to say, “If only you had been here.” Jesus is here. He gave his life for you and took it back again. He is in control. He is loving and serving you. And he wants you to be like Martha in her best moments when he asks you, “Do you believe?”
Many believed that day because they saw something amazing. They saw something impossible. They saw Jesus bring a dead man back to life. They saw a little preview of Easter. This man has power over death. This man has power over his own death. This man has power over our lives. You can put away your “Lord, if only.” Instead, you have, “Lord, because.” Because you are here, I have everything I need. Because you are here, I have no moments that are too big to trust that you are in control. Because you are here, I have life. You are the resurrection and the life. You are exactly what I need.
The Text: John 11:17–27, 38–45 (EHV)
17When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
18Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.
20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary was sitting in the house.
21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.”
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. 26And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish. Do you believe this?”
27“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
38Jesus was deeply moved again as he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39“Take away the stone,” he said.
Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, because it has been four days.”
40Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone.
Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, “Loose him and let him go.”
45Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.