The "I am" statements of John's Gospel have provided the basis for profound theological reflection. In this season of Eastertide, I share a few insights from the encounter of our Lord Jesus Christ with Mary, the sister of Lazarus, in which the "I am" statement related to resurrection and life (both associated with Easter) was uttered.

The context was one of death, pain, and disappointment. Lazarus had been dead and buried for four days. His sisters Mary and Martha were in pain, and expressed their disappointment that Jesus was not there earlier to prevent the death: "Lord, if you had been here, our brother would not have died" (Jn 11.21, 32). In the face of Jesus' affirmation that their brother would rise again, they could only go to the religious formula they knew - yes, they knew that he would rise again in the future. But Jesus was offering more than the affirmation of an eschatological reality. He was right there in the pain of the bereaved sisters, accompanying them and bringing life to replace death.

The crucial question is "Do you believe this?". We can choose to believe merely in the religious formulas of the eschatological fulfilment of who Jesus is - the resurrection and the life - or dare to believe in the fullness of what this means for today and the future. Daring to believe Jesus is the resurrection and the life here and now has challenging implications for what we do in today's contexts of death and pain.

Those whose belief is limited to the future fulfilment of resurrection may remain inactive in the face of suffering - not feeling any call to be part of God's transforming action. They may even recoil into a shallow analysis of contemporary death-dealing events, equating godliness with one of two seemingly opposite stances: otherworldliness or a strong exclusivist nationalism.

These stances are often expressions of a feeling that what seems dead and buried cannot be resurrected: we should either wait for the eschaton or rejoice that we have a national security which will prevent us from such a fate. Too often our churches and church leaders uncritically swallow the security and war doctrines doled out by politicans and the media, inadvertently contributing to death and pain in many parts of the world.

Many Christians have sat unconcerned as death and pain flourished in Palestine, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and many other places. Others have been unconcerned in the face of the economic injustices faced by two-thirds of the world - found geographically mainly in the global south, but also in many inner cities of the north - and the injustices in church and society suffered by many because they are women.

Daring to believe Jesus is the resurrection and the life calls for a different kind of commitment. In the power of the resurrected Lord and saviour Jesus Christ we can stare death and death-dealing forces in the face and find the courage to be instruments of God's transformative action. Even if what we are called to do and to say is sometimes misinterpreted as "unpatriotic", we cannot help but take a firm stance against the forces of death. We believe Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches has called its member churches to covenant for justice in the economy and the earth. Our churches are also engaged in a journey of exploring what it means to say that Jesus came so that all may have life in fullness. These processes should help us as communities and individuals to respond more faithfully to our Lord's question, "Do you believe this?"

This Eastertide, we can confidently respond, "We believe you are the resurrection and the life, and we are committed to accompanying people dealing with pain and death and to being your instruments in bringing life where the forces of death reign."

Setri Nyomi