Jn 11:19-27
[or Lk 10:38-42]
19Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22[But] even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” 24Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” 25Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
DEATH AND LIFE: Among the ancient Hebrews, there was no distinction between “life” as a principle of vitality and life as a living, concrete expression of that vitality. Life was an animated body with its power to function, and its capacity for pleasure. Life itself was the basic good. “Fullness” of life was the experience that a person desired on this earth: length of days, possessions (especially of land), offspring, peace and deliverance from enemies. Life was diminished with the loss of these, and death marked the end of life.
Due to the influence of Greek thought, belief in life after death later grew. When Antiochus IV Epiphanes introduced Hellenism and forced people to renounce their religious practices, Israelite martyrs gave up their lives in the hope of receiving them back from God. By the time of Jesus, most people believe in the other life, in the resurrection from the dead on the last day.
Eternal life (Greek aionios zoe) appears frequently in John. It means that death is not the final word; eternal life awaits people beyond this earthly life. But with Jesus, eternal life begins to be a reality in this life. Jesus has the words of eternal life; one possesses eternal life through faith in him (Jn 20:31). One obtains eternal life by keeping the commandment of God. One must be ready to lose one’s natural life to preserve one’s soul for eternal life (Jn 12:25).
In today’s Gospel, Jesus assures Martha that a person who believes in him has eternal life. One does not have to wait to pass on to the other life to experience the divine life that Jesus brings. One who believes and grafts his life in Jesus no longer lives in the pattern of this world—but according to the mind of Jesus.