So
when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away. Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house. Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
John 11:17-24
John 11 [16.] Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go also, that we may die with him.”
John 11 [17.] So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away. Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house. Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
John 11 [24.] Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
John 11 [25.] Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Meaning:
Jesus and his disciples have crossed the Jordan and arrived near Bethany. The scene is one of grief, but also of faith struggling to understand. Martha’s words to Jesus lead directly to one of his greatest sayings: “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).
- “He had been in the tomb four days already”
In that climate burial took place on the day of death. By the fourth day there was no doubt at all that Lazarus was dead, and decay had begun, as Martha would soon point out (John 11:39). A belief recorded in later Jewish writings held that the soul stayed near the body for three days and then departed. Whether or not the mourners at Bethany thought this way, everyone knew that all hope had passed. John records the four days so that no one could explain the sign away.
- “Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away”
Fifteen stadia is about 2.8 kilometres, or 1.7 miles. The closeness to Jerusalem explains why “many of the Jews” had come out to comfort the family, and why news of what happened reached the chief priests and Pharisees so quickly (John 11:46). It also meant that Jesus was now within easy reach of those who wanted to kill him.
- “Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them”
Comforting the bereaved was a highly valued duty in Jewish life. Mourning was intense during the first week, and friends and neighbours came to sit with the family. Scripture honours such care: “Weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15).
- “Martha... went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house”
The sisters act as Luke describes them: Martha active and busy, Mary sitting quietly (Luke 10:40). Martha could not wait for Jesus to arrive; she went out to meet him on the road.
- “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died”
Martha speaks from deep grief. She was sure that Jesus could have healed her brother. Her words carry a note of pain, but no rejection. In the same breath she declares her trust: “Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” She may not have dared to ask for more, but she knew that Jesus’ prayers were heard.
- “Your brother will rise again”
Jesus’ promise could be heard in two ways. Martha took it as the familiar comfort that the righteous will rise at the end of the age. Jesus meant something much nearer.
- “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day”
Martha shared the hope that God had revealed through the prophets: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). The Pharisees taught this, while the Sadducees denied it (Acts 23:8). Jesus had confirmed it: “the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out” (John 5:28-29). Martha’s faith was right, but it was focused on a distant day. Jesus was about to show her that the resurrection and the life were standing before her in person.
The Significance of John 11:17-24
- Honest grief and real faith
Martha brought both her disappointment and her trust to Jesus. Believers need not hide their sorrow from the Lord. Faith is not the absence of grief but trust in God in the middle of it.
- The ministry of comfort
The friends who came to console the sisters did a good and godly thing. Being present with those who mourn is one of the simplest and most valuable forms of love.
- A hope that has come near
Christian hope is not only a doctrine about the future. Paul wrote that believers do not grieve “like the rest, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13), because the risen Jesus himself is the ground of that hope.
Cross-References:
Daniel 12:2: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life," The Old Testament hope that Martha held.
John 5:28: "the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out;" Jesus’ earlier teaching on the resurrection.
Acts 23:8: "For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess all of these." The resurrection hope was disputed in Jesus’ day.
Luke 10:40: "But Martha was distracted with much serving," The active character seen again in this scene.
Conclusion: Jesus arrived at Bethany when Lazarus had been four days in the tomb, and the house was full of mourners from Jerusalem. Martha went out to meet him, voicing both her grief and her trust that God would give Jesus whatever he asked. When he promised that her brother would rise again, she spoke of the resurrection at the last day, not yet realising that the Lord of the resurrection stood before her.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible