Taken, with editing, from Expository Thoughts on John, vol 2. This article reprints, with some editing, Ryle’s general comments on John 11:17-29. This is part of what has been reprinted as The Power and Sympathy of Christ, reviewed on page xxx in this issue.
A Strange Mixture of Grace and Weakness
There is a grand simplicity about this passage which is almost spoilt by any human exposition. To comment on it seems like gilding gold or painting lilies. Yet it throws much light on a subject which we can never understand too well; that is, the true character of Christ’s people. The portraits of Christians in the Bible are faithful likenesses. They show us saints just as they are.
We see this strikingly illustrated in the language used by Martha and Mary. Both these holy women had faith enough to say, “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died”. Yet neither of them seems to have remembered that the death of Lazarus did not depend on Christ’s absence, and that the Lord, had He thought fit, could have prevented his death with a word, without coming to Bethany. Martha had knowledge enough to say, “I know, that even now, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God wilt give it Thee. . . . I know that my brother shall rise again at the last day. . . . I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God.” But even she could get no further. Her dim eyes and trembling hands could not grasp the grand truth that He who stood before her had the keys of life and death, and that in her Master dwelt “all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col 2: 9). She saw indeed, but through a glass darkly. She knew, but only in part. She believed, but her faith was mingled with much unbelief. Yet both Martha and Mary were genuine children of God and true Christians.
These things are graciously written for our learning. It is good to remember what true Christians really are. Many and great are the mistakes into which people fall, by forming a false estimate of the Christian’s character. Many are the bitter things which people write against themselves, by expecting to find in their hearts what cannot be found on this side of heaven. Let us settle it in our minds that saints on earth are not perfect angels, but only converted sinners. They are sinners renewed, changed, sanctified, no doubt; but they are yet sinners and will be till they die. Like Martha and Mary, their faith is often entangled with much unbelief, and their grace compassed round with much infirmity. Happy is that child of God who understands these things, and has learned to judge rightly both of himself and others. Rarely indeed shall we find the saint who does not often need that prayer, “Lord, I believe: help Thou mine unbelief”.
The Need for Clear Views of Christ
We learn, secondly, what need many believers have of clear views of Christ’s person, office and power. This is a point which is forcibly brought out in the well-known sentence which our Lord addressed to Martha. In reply to her vague and faltering expression of belief in the resurrection at the last day, He proclaims the glorious truth, “I am the resurrection and the life” – I, even I, thy Master, am He that has the keys of life and death in His hands. And then He presses on her once more that old lesson, which she had doubtless often heard, but never fully realised: “He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die”.
There is matter here which deserves the close consideration of all true Christians. Many of them complain of a lack of felt comfort in their religion. They do not feel the inward peace which they desire. Let them know that vague and indefinite views of Christ are too often the cause of all their perplexities. They must try to see more clearly the great object on which their faith rests. They must grasp more firmly His love and power toward them that believe, and the riches He has laid up for them even now in this world. We are, many of us, sadly like Martha. A little general knowledge of Christ as the only Saviour is often all that we possess. But of the fullness that dwells in Him, of His resurrection, His priesthood, His intercession, His unfailing compassion, we have tasted little or nothing at all. They are things of which our Lord might well say to many, as He did to Martha, “Believest thou this?”
Let us take shame to ourselves that we have named the name of Christ so long and yet know so little about Him. What right have we to wonder that we feel so little felt comfort in our Christianity? Our slight and imperfect knowledge of Christ is the true reason of our discomfort. Let the time past suffice us to have been lazy students in Christ’s school; let the time to come find us more diligent in trying to “know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Phil 3:10). If true Christians would only strive, as Paul says, to “comprehend . . . what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (Eph 3:18), they would be amazed at the discoveries they would make.
They would soon find, like Hagar, that there are wells of water near them of which they had no knowledge. They would soon discover that there is more heaven to be enjoyed on earth than they had ever thought possible. The root of a happy religion is clear, distinct, well-defined knowledge of Jesus Christ. More knowledge would have saved Martha many sighs and tears. Knowledge alone no doubt, if unsanctified, only “puffeth up” (1 Cor 8:1). Yet without clear knowledge of Christ in all His offices we cannot expect to be established in the faith, and steady in the time of need.