In John 11:25-26, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
These two verses deserve more than a three minute devotional, so I am going to give a whole nine minutes by breaking it up into three devotionals!
In this passage, Jesus is talking to Martha right near the grave of her brother, who had just died a few days prior. Jesus was asked to come and help, but instead he delayed, and the brother Lazarus died. So Martha says, “If you had been here, he would not have died!” Then Jesus responded by saying, “He will live.”
Martha doesn’t quite get what he is saying. “I know he will leave (eventually)…” But then Jesus gives these amazing two sentences. In fact, we will later learn that the entire point of John 11, where Lazarus is raised from the dead, comes out of what Jesus is saying in verses 25-26. Jesus wants people to understand this: he is the resurrection and the life.
He begins by saying, “I am.” This statement can be linked back to when God (the father) calls himself, “I am” to Moses. Jesus then called himself “I am” in John 8, and the religious leaders tried to stone him. So now, Jesus is AGAIN calling himself “I am.” His point is that he is, “I am”… He is God!
And since he is God, he has the power to resurrect. The word “resurrection” in the original language literally means “stand up.” It is referring to someone who was dead (and consequently laying down). When a dead person comes back to life, they “stand up.”
Then he says, “I am… the life.” The word “life” does not point to physical life, but eternal life. Jesus is saying that eternal life goes through him!
He is the God of “the standing up and the eternal life.” Do you want these things? Then you must go through him.
In our day, it is easy to put Jesus on a pedestal with other religious leaders. He is thought of as “one among many others.” Jesus is great. Buddha is great.
But the claims that Jesus is making here do not allow for him to be on a pedestal among others. Jesus is claiming to be God. He is claiming that he is THE way to resurrection and life. Not one of many.
Today, I challenge you to clear off your pedestal and only allow Jesus up there. He is the resurrection and the life. Let’s look to him as the only source of true life.