I Am the Resurrection and the Life

Jesus arrives after Lazarus has been in the tomb four days. Martha confesses confidence that God will hear Jesus and affirms the standard Jewish hope of resurrection “at the last day.” Jesus then moves the hope from an event alone to himself: “I am the resurrection, and the life.” Daniel 12, Isaiah 26, and Ezekiel 37 stand behind Israel’s developing resurrection hope, but John centers its realization in the person of Jesus. Martha responds with one of the Gospel’s fullest confessions: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.