QT 26 Sep 12, Trusting God even when it is too late

John 11:18-27 (NIV) Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."

23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

Note: Bethany was only two miles away  and God did not move. Not that he  really needed to. He had healed  from a distance before and it  would not be difficult for him.  But Jesus knew exactly what he  was doing. For Mary or Martha,  this absence would have been particularly difficult. They did  not know what God was doing.  Martha meets Jesus and while  it is not clear from the text, one  could understand if she was angry, "if you  had been here." Her follow-on  statement is hard to understand  because while she believes anything  is possible, resurrection from the  dead is not on her list. Jesus then makes one of those extreme statements that he has been doing as of late and claims to be the resurrection. Martha believes him, at least in a spiritual sense, and definitively calls him the Son of God, which he does not deny. Something very big is about to happen and only one person knows how significant the event will be, Jesus. We are about to see the sign of Jonah. We will see it again after the crucifixion. And we will see it one more the in history when the two witnesses rise from the dead after three days. In each case, dead for all or part of three days is required. The signs cannot be ignored, people cannot be raised from the dead.