It’s intriguing that Mary and Martha both complained to Jesus in the same words: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21, 11:32). I’ve felt that same way, and even offered pretty much that same complaint: “Lord, why weren’t you here to work a miracle and heal him so he would not have died?”

Yet despite the poignancy of our feelings of bereavement, that’s not quite an accurate assessment of the situation, is it? Because after all, Jesus was with us every time. Jesus has been right here, and our brothers and sisters have gone ahead and died anyway, even while we were all recognizing the genuine presence of Jesus as they died. Jesus has been right here with us, and yet we all die at some point or other: and that’s been true all down the centuries.

Jesus does not promise that he’ll show up and keep healing us so that this earthly life never comes to an end. What Jesus tells us instead is this: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, nevertheless they will live” (11:25).

It is not ever-ongoing earthly life that he offers us. We do fall in love with this earthly life, and it is often hard for us to reckon that the other life, that unseen eternal life he’s got for us, is better than this earthly life we can see in the here and now. We’re like people listening to the overture to the musical, and the overture is so sweepingly beautiful that we just want to keep listening to it: but the overture is, after all, just the introduction to the magnificent show that’s about to begin. We’re like people reading the prologue to the great novel, and the prologue is so captivating that we just want to keep reading it: but the prologue is, after all, just the introduction to the grand saga that begins when we turn the next page. And so, even though we die, yet we will live: and what a full and rich eternal life it will be!

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Your promise stands sure, O Lord: we believe in your promise, and we believe in you. And still our hearts break when those we love die: you yourself wept at the tomb of your friend. But even in our tears and sorrow we trust in you, O Lord: for you are the Resurrection and the Life, forever!