John 11:21–27 — I Am the Resurrection and the Life

Why families choose it

The sentence that has opened the burial service for nearly five hundred years — ‘I am the resurrection, and the life’ — was not first spoken from a pulpit but on a road, to one grieving sister, four days too late by every human measure. Martha says what every mourner has thought and mostly not said: Lord, if thou hadst been here. She is not rebuked for it. The largest claim in the Gospels is made to an audience of one, and she is asked, plainly, whether she believes it.

Reading it aloud

This is a conversation, and it fails if performed as one — do not put on voices. Mark each change of speaker with a breath and trust the words to separate themselves. Take ‘I am the resurrection, and the life’ slowly and evenly, without emphasis; it does not need help. Ask ‘Believest thou this?’ quietly, as a real question. Martha's answer is the last line, and it is the congregation's answer too — end there and sit down.

In the programme, list it in the order of service as “Scripture Reading — John 11:21–27” with the reader’s name beside it. The full text is public domain and may be printed on the life-story or back page.