Moving From Activity to Belief - John 10-12

 John 11:25-27 (ESV)

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

In the midst of the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, we have the above exchange between Jesus and Lazarus’ brother, Martha.  Lazarus had two sisters, Mary and Maratha.  They were the two who made different choices about Jesus’ teaching on a particular day.  Martha was busy serving everyone and Mary was seated at the feat of Jesus listen.  When Martha’s complained she was serving “alone,” here was Jesus’ response:

Luke 10:41-42 (ESV)

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

There is no record of Martha’s response to those words.   We can’t assume she stopped serving and sat and listened and we can’t assume she did.   However, in the above passage we see her offered a choice, once again.  Jesus is asking her to believe Him about His power and purpose.  She confesses that she does.   When Jesus asks, “Do you believe this?” He is refereeing not to His power only, but His purpose as well.  He is not referring to His power to simply raise Lazarus from the dead right now (something that still is not in her mind in the range of possibilities), but His entire purpose to bring resurrected power to the world.   At this point we have Martha’s confession.  She is no longer busy doing things.  She is moving from busy to belief.   She is not active in serving but willing to accept a truth of being serve by the Savior of the world.   This is a transformation all people must take.  We can be active in doing something, without belief in the One who has done it all for us.   Here, we read that Martha stopped her activity and rested solely in the truth of the resurrected power of Christ.