"Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

John 11:25-26

When someone you love dies, you are all over the place. Disbelief, exhaustion, regret, numbness, anger, disorientation, anguish, and more all jostle amid the busyness and emptiness of the days that follow. Bethany, the home of Mary and Martha, close to the Mount of Olives, Jesus comes to be with Martha, to listen to her. He invites her to plunge deeper, past her vague belief in the resurrection of the dead on a last day, to grasp that resurrection and life are found in him now, focusing on Jesus: who he is and why he has come. Even as Lazarus is still dead, her heart encounters a revelation of the Son of God who has arrived at the Mount of Olives, ushering in new life and hope. She accepts the challenge to trust in him amid all the painful unknowns.

Closing Prayer

Where death brings painful and even devastating separation, Jesus, thank you that with you comes life eternal—yours is the final victory— hallelujah! (edited from Encounter with God)