Martha does once more appear on the scene. When Jesus had—again groaning in Himself—come to the grave (“It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it”) He said, “Take ye away the stone.” At once, instead of being awed and hushed into silence and expectancy, Martha broke in and said, “Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.” Poor Martha! She ventured thus even to correct her Lord—judging as she did from the sight of her eyes. How calmly, and yet solemnly, does the Lord rebuke her folly, as He replied, “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” The stone was taken away, and all was now in readiness for the display of this effulgent glory. But first, ever glorifying the Father in all that He did, Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” Giving glory to God, He yearned at the same time over the souls of those around, that they might receive Him as the sent One from the Father—the striking testimony to which they were about to behold. “And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him and let him go.”
Thus was it demonstrated that Jesus, sent into this world from the Father, was the Son of God. Of Mary and Martha nothing more is said in this chapter, but, from what follows in the next, we may gather that the Lord’s object in their trial was fully attained, that the two sisters had been divinely taught through what they had experienced and witnessed, that the Lord was more than ever, because she had embraced more fully the glories of His person, the blessed portion of Mary’s heart, and that, Martha’s natural anxieties and care having been expelled by the new revelation made to her soul, she henceforward became a quiet and devoted servant.