All Souls Day

All Souls Day

All Souls Day is the day the church has set aside to pray for and remember those who have died. Every generation has those it grieves. The response of Jesus to Martha's grief in John 11 is remarkable: He doesn't rush past it. He arrives four days after the death, sees the tears of Mary and the crowd, and is 'deeply moved in spirit and troubled' (verse 33). Then He wept (verse 35). And then He raised Lazarus. He did not skip the weeping to get to the miracle. The God of resurrection meets us in the grief before He leads us through it.

John 11:25-26 is the fifth of Jesus' seven 'I am' statements in John's Gospel. 'I am the resurrection and the life' — not 'I provide resurrection,' but 'I am resurrection.' The power of resurrection is not something Jesus possesses; it is something Jesus is. The promise has two parts: the one who believes will live even through death (verse 25), and the one who lives and believes will never die (verse 26). Physical death is real — Lazarus died, the beloved dead are dead. But physical death is not the final word. The final word belongs to the One who is resurrection. On this day of remembering those who have died: they are with the One who is life itself.