Sitting with the Gospel of John: A Resurrection Reflection

By Dylan Verdun Sullivan
This morning, as I sit with my Bible and a quiet cup of coffee, this is my Scripture reflection for today.
There is something deeply personal about these words.
Not spoken to a crowd.
Not delivered as a sermon.
But spoken into grief.
I wrote last week that I had been sitting in the book of John, and this morning I felt to return to those reflections.
Jesus says this to Martha, standing in the aftermath of loss—her brother gone, her world shaken, her expectations unmet. And instead of offering explanation, He offers Himself.
Not I will be.
Not I bring.
But I am.
That’s what makes Easter different.
It’s not just about an empty tomb somewhere in history.
It’s about a Person who steps into the places we thought were finished.
Because we all have our versions of that moment.
Things we’ve buried.
Things we’ve accepted as over.
Prayers that didn’t unfold the way we hoped.
And somewhere in that space, the quiet question lingers
Where are You, God?
But what we see in this passage is that Jesus doesn’t stand at a distance from death.
He walks straight into it.
Before the stone is rolled away, before Lazarus is called out, before anything changes externally Jesus makes a declaration:
“I am the resurrection.”
Which means resurrection is not just an event.
It is a reality carried in Him.
That changes how we understand Easter.
Because the power of the resurrection is not limited to one moment it reaches into the present. Into grief. Into confusion. Into the parts of life that feel sealed and unmoving.
It doesn’t always remove the struggle immediately.
But it refuses to let death have the final word.
And maybe that’s the question that remains, just as Jesus asked Martha:
Do you believe this?
Not as a test.
But as an invitation.
Because Easter is not just something to remember.
It is something to step into.
He is risen.

About the Author

Dylan Verdun Sullivan is the founder of Refined by Fire Press and an Australian author indexed in the National Library. As a Level 7 Local Guide with over 1.2M views on Google Maps, he documents the intersection of faith, recovery, and the "light in the mundane."

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