Read: John 11:1-7; 17-27
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.” (v. 25)
Ten years ago, a friend was diagnosed with cancer and given months to live. But the end didn’t come. Doctors were amazed by the way she defied all odds, continuing to live for a full decade longer than expected. Towards the end of that time, my friend returned to church, which she had not attended since she was a small child. A few months after she made the decision to be baptized, her cancer returned. Jesus didn’t completely heal her this side of heaven, but he did miraculously extend her life long enough for her to find her way back to him.
It is sometimes a mystery to us why God chooses to cure some illnesses and not others. When Jesus first heard that his friend Lazarus was sick, why did he stay where he was two more days? Martha knew it—she told Jesus “if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). But Jesus had bigger plans than simply curing his friend’s illness. He wanted to demonstrate, through raising Lazarus from the dead (vv. 43-44), that he himself is the resurrection and the life: “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (v. 25).
We don’t always get to see people healed from their illnesses. But we can trust in the true end of the story: Jesus offers resurrection and new life to all who come to him.
As you pray, ask God to heal the sick, and give new life to those who do not yet know him.
About the Author
Sarah Sanderson is the author of The Place We Make: Breaking the Legacy of Legalized Hate. She lives with her husband and their four teenage children in Oregon.
