Who Jesus is
Jesus and Death
Jesus treated death as an enemy he had come to undo, yet he did not meet it coldly. At Lazarus' tomb he wept before he raised him. He told Martha, 'I am the resurrection, and the life,' and called a dead man out by name. To Jairus' daughter he said she only slept. He faced death as one who would defeat it.
Jesus and Death
Jesus meets death most fully at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. He arrives after Lazarus has been dead four days. Confronted with the grief of Mary and Martha, 'Jesus wept' (John 11:35), the shortest verse in the Bible and one of the most telling. He is not detached from loss. He weeps at it, even knowing what he is about to do.
Then he says to Martha, 'I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live' (John 11:25). He calls, 'Lazarus, come forth,' and the dead man walks out (John 11:43). Earlier he had raised Jairus' daughter, saying the child 'is not dead, but sleepeth' (Mark 5:39), and he stopped a funeral at Nain to raise a widow's only son (Luke 7:13).
To Jesus death is real and grievous, but not final. He treats it the way you treat a defeated enemy still making noise: with tears for its damage, and full confidence over its end.
What Jesus said and did
Where this points
He did not merely raise others; he went into death himself. On the cross he died and was buried, then rose bodily on the third day. Because he passed through the grave and came out, his promise 'though he were dead, yet shall he live' rests on his own empty tomb.
People also ask
Why did Jesus weep if he was going to raise Lazarus?
Because grief is real even when hope is certain. Jesus knew Lazarus would rise within minutes, yet he still wept with Mary and Martha (John 11:35). His tears show that faith in resurrection does not cancel sorrow; it accompanies it.
What did Jesus teach about life after death?
That he himself is the resurrection and the life, and that those who trust him will live even though they die (John 11:25). He spoke of being with him beyond death, as he told the thief, 'To day shalt thou be with me in paradise' (Luke 23:43).