Martha is encouraged to believe

Martha is encouraged to believe

“Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40)

We closed yesterday with Martha’s response to Jesus, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world” (John 11:27). Martha’s heart for the Lord was unquestioned. And, as we have seen, she is characterised by activity, openness and frankness. The Lord uses her experiences with Him to teach lessons we need to learn.

But Martha surprises us too. The discretion she demonstrates as she quietly tells her sister the Lord was calling her is appealing. There was tenderness at that moment which showed her care for her grieving sister. Martha was a strong woman at the centre of a family she cared for and wanted to protect at a time of loss. When Mary, the people and the Lord wept, it does not record Martha weeping over Lazarus. Was that because she didn’t care? No, it was because Martha cared. She saw, I believe, her role as being strong for others. The Lord in His first meeting with her told her she was troubled and anxious about many things. I don’t think that was a selfish occupation. I think she carried the troubles of others. She is a vivid illustration of the ability of godly women to be self-sacrificing and practical in times of crisis. Her instinct was to care. It is a costly and beautiful instinct.

But, like Peter, she also found it incredibly difficult not to intervene when she thought the Lord was making a mistake. Her faith in the Saviour clashed with her life experience. We often highlight Martha’s failure to understand the power of the Lord Jesus: we can excel at highlighting the faults of others. But how often do we act in precisely the same way? Our faith in the Saviour is not in question. But resting and living in that faith at critical times in our lives is the real test. When Jesus wept, the people did not doubt that He loved Lazarus. They saw how much Jesus loved His friend. But they doubted His power over death: “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” (John 11:37). Martha and Mary both believed if Jesus had been there in time, Lazarus would not have died, as though distance made Jesus less powerful. Only, Martha said, “But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You” (John 11:22).

But when the test came, she found herself saying what everyone else was thinking, “What is the Lord doing?” It is a question I have to admit I have asked many times. The Lord does not condemn Martha. The Lord is never surprised by our frailties. The Lord does not say to Martha, “I told you, Martha, I am the resurrection and the life, but you didn’t listen.” He says, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (verse 40). He directed her faith to Himself with the promise of seeing the glory of God in the Person of Jesus as He raised her brother from the dead.

The Lord uses Martha to teach us not only to know He is the resurrection and the life but, by living faith, to know this power through all life’s experiences; “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection …” (see Philippians 3:7-11).