John 11:17-27

Go Deep

(John 11:17-27)

Read John 11:17-27, noting your insights into the text or into Jesus.

In 11:20, Martha went out to meet Jesus. How did she know he was there?

Why did Jesus not go into the house to see Martha and Mary, since that was expected during the first week of mourning?

Why did Mary stay in the house when Jesus was outside the village?

Read verse 21. Do Martha’s words sound like a rebuke to you? Explain.

When Martha says in verse 22 that she knows that “whatever [Jesus] asks of God, God will give him” (literal translation), what does she have in mind?

What Jesus says in verse 22 does not seem a proper response to what Martha said in verse 21. Is he ignoring her or skirting the subject?

If you were Martha, how would Jesus’s promise that your brother would rise again make you feel?

Martha responds, “I know he will rise again in … the last day.” Does this assurance set her mind at rest? Explain your thinking.

If a Greek were to ask a first century Jew living in Israel to tell him what Jews meant by “resurrection,” what do you think the Jew would say?

When Jesus says that he is the resurrection, what does he mean? How can a person be that?

Do you think that Martha understood what Jesus meant by saying that he is the resurrection? If she did not understand, how could Jesus go on to ask her if she believed what he said?

Jesus not only says that he is the resurrection, he also says that he is “the life.” In what sense is Jesus “the life,” and what does that have to do with being the resurrection?

Jesus says that the person who believes in him will live even though he dies. How this could be?

Jesus said that whoever believes in him will never die. How can he say this when we’ve all known people who died despite their belief in Jesus?

Does Martha’s response in verse 27 answer Jesus’s question in verse 26? Explain.