Thursday | 23 April 2026
When Martha was directly asked by Jesus, she did not confess her faith that He was the resurrection and the life. Rather, she deflected His question by stating her belief that He was the Son of God who had come into the world. She then excused herself from the conversation with Jesus. She went her way and secretly called her sister, saying, ‘The Teacher has come and is calling for you’. Joh 11:28. Martha’s actions were manipulative as she knew that Mary’s expectations of Christ mirrored her own. Indeed, when Mary arrived at the place where Jesus had spoken with Martha, she fell down at His feet and said to Him, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.’ Joh 11:32. These were the same words with which Martha had earlier addressed Christ.
When Jesus heard these words and witnessed her weeping, John recorded that ‘He groaned in the Spirit and was troubled’. Joh 11:33. This translation does not adequately reflect the nature of Christ’s response. He was moved to indignation, and literally shook with rage, at her unbelief. As He then came to the tomb, Jesus made this same response to the Jews who said, ‘Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?’ Joh 11:37‑38.
Even after Christ had declared that He was the resurrection and the life, Martha was reticent to move the stone away from the entrance of the tomb because of the likely stench that is associated with a corpse that was four days old. Christ’s response to Martha indicated that their unbelief concerning resurrection life in mortality, and in relation to their house, was the source of His indignation. Their unbelief, and the hardness of their hearts, was getting in the way of resurrection life coming to their brother. He said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’ Joh 11:40. Evidently, they were not yet believers!
Further Study:
Joh 11:28
And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, ‘The Teacher has come and is calling for you.’
Joh 11:32-33
Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.’ Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.
Joh 11:37-38
And some of them said, ‘Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?’ Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
Joh 11:40
Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’
References:
When Martha was directly asked by Jesus, she did not confess her faith that He was the resurrection and the life. Rather, she deflected His question by stating her belief that He was the Son of God who had come into the world. She then excused herself from the conversation with Jesus. She went her way and secretly called her sister, saying, ‘The Teacher has come and is calling for you’. Joh 11:28. Martha’s actions were manipulative as she knew that Mary’s expectations of Christ mirrored her own. Indeed, when Mary arrived at the place where Jesus had spoken with Martha, she fell down at His feet and said to Him, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.’ Joh 11:32. These were the same words with which Martha had earlier addressed Christ.
When Jesus heard these words and witnessed her weeping, John recorded that ‘He groaned in the Spirit and was troubled’. Joh 11:33. This translation does not adequately reflect the nature of Christ’s response. He was moved to indignation, and literally shook with rage, at her unbelief. As He then came to the tomb, Jesus made this same response to the Jews who said, ‘Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?’ Joh 11:37‑38.
Even after Christ had declared that He was the resurrection and the life, Martha was reticent to move the stone away from the entrance of the tomb because of the likely stench that is associated with a corpse that was four days old. Christ’s response to Martha indicated that their unbelief concerning resurrection life in mortality, and in relation to their house, was the source of His indignation. Their unbelief, and the hardness of their hearts, was getting in the way of resurrection life coming to their brother. He said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’ Joh 11:40. Evidently, they were not yet believers!