Celebrities may have their brief moment of glory but are eventually reduced to dust and ashes.

No-one made greater claims for himself than Jesus Christ. Though constantly challenged over the past two thousand years, millions have found the claims to be true, where it matters - in their personal life and daily experience. In this series we examine these claims. Each of the 8 claims is found in John’s Gospel.

5: I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:1-27)

A picture of despair

The bereaved daughter arrived at our home to discuss arrangements for the funeral of her mother - a day earlier than we had arranged. That was an indication of the confusion caused by the tragedy of her loss. Pale and drawn, she said she couldn’t imagine life without her mother, yet she was having to face the fact that her mother was dead, and that she faced the future alone.

Checking our outlook on life

Thousands face this apparently hopeless situation every day, suddenly discovering that their philosophy of life does not provide for death and all that lies beyond it. The claim that changes everything Jesus’ claim to be the ‘resurrection and the life’ is so outrageous that we cannot ignore it. His claim to be the ‘resurrection’ implies that he has the power to raise people from the dead. And to claim that he is the ‘life’ implies that he has authority to give eternal life to all those he raises up.

Jesus also knew the pain of loss

This stupendous claim was made against a background of the death of a much-loved brother and Jesus’ own friend, Lazarus. Grieving sisters, Mary and Martha, were also part of the scene. They lived in a village, not far from Jerusalem called Bethany. Jesus and his disciples had every reason to be thankful for their loving and generous hospitality. They were always welcome there.

There was a purpose

But then Lazarus was taken ill. His anxious sisters sent a message to Jesus to come urgently. His response seemed to be careless. Rather than rushing to Bethany he told the disciples that Lazarus’ sickness would not end in death but was for the glory of God and himself, God’s Son. In fact he stayed where he was a further two days before setting off for the village!

On the way, Jesus explained to his disciples that Lazarus had ‘fallen asleep’ and that he intended to ‘wake him up’. So why risk travelling through dangerous territory if Lazarus was just sleeping, they wanted to know. Jesus explained that Lazarus was dead and that the situation was designed to strengthen their faith in him.

Learning to trust in a crisis

On arriving in Bethany, they discovered that Lazarus had been dead and buried four days ago! Martha came out to meet Jesus, and couldn’t help rebuking him for not coming at once. ‘But’, she added, ‘I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask’. Martha’s faith was rewarded with a mind-blowing promise, ‘Your brother will rise again’. She knew that there would be a resurrection of the dead on the great Judgement Day - but Jesus was promising something much more immediate! ‘I am the resurrection and the life’, he said. ‘He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die’.

Words and deeds

It is easier to make a claim than to demonstrate the truth of that claim. Jesus did both! He asked to be taken to Lazarus’ grave, where he wept. Then he commanded that the stone covering the entrance to the grave be removed - ignoring warnings about the decayed state of the body. Then he prayed and asked that through what he was about to do the gathering crowd might believe that the Father had sent him into the world. Then Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ – and the dead man came out of the grave, still wrapped in his grave clothes! ‘Take off the grave clothes’, Jesus said, ‘and let him go.’

A miracle

An amazing miracle had taken place. There is no other explanation. The event was a display of divine power to rescue a friend from the clutches of death – but it was also a demonstration of the truth of Jesus’ claim to be the ‘resurrection and the life’. Later, there would a further – even greater – demonstration of the truth of Jesus’ claim, when he rose from the dead on the third day after his death on the cross.

As the ‘resurrection and the life’ Jesus is able to raise from the dead all those who put their trust in him. ‘He who believes in me will live, even though he dies,’ he promised. Do you believe this?

Michael Toogood