Yesterday my wife and I attended a memorial service honoring a member of my chorus who passed away recently. Dave was in declining health for all of the six years that I knew him, and indeed for many years before that. He lost one lung to cancer in the 1970s, and underwent numerous heart surgeries and procedures in later years. Yet, he always maintained an enthusiasm for life and an active sense of humor that touched everyone who met him.

As we listened to the memories shared by others who had known Dave, I couldn’t help but recall the occasion recorded in the eleventh chapter of John’s gospel, when Jesus came to the grave of His recently deceased friend Lazarus. As He approached the tomb, Jesus encountered both of Lazarus’ sisters, first industrious Martha (verses 21-28), then faithful Mary (verse 32). Both sisters had the same thought on their minds and lips as Christ came near: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

How often have we mourned a loved one or friend and thought the same thing? “Lord, if You really cared about me, my [enter relationship here] would not have died.” We often wonder, when tragedy strikes in our lives, why the Lord who loves us allows such terrible things to happen to us and to those we love. If we examine Jesus’ interactions with the sisters of Lazarus, we learn some vital truths about the way He works on our behalf.

To Martha Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (verses 25-26). Christ is more concerned about our spiritual lives than with the narrow parameters of our physical lives. He knows that we will all die physically. Only two men among all the millions who have lived escaped this conclusion. Jesus Himself died and was buried, only to rise again, nevermore to die.

Jesus did not come to earth to spare us from physical death, but rather to give us the promise of what lies beyond death. If He preserved our physical lives even until the day of judgment, of what real advantage would that be to us? We would still have to put off this material body in order to inherit everlasting life: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:50-53). So death is inevitable.