John 11:21,22 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Bible Comments

Then said Martha unto Jesus,— Martha's intention, no doubt, was to welcome Jesus; but being in an excess of grief, the first thing she uttered was a complaint, that he had not come sooner. Imagining that he could not cure her brother while at a distance from him, she thought that, by delaying to come, he had neglected to save her brother's life: Lord, if thou hadst been here, &c. Thus Martha, in one respect, betrayed a mean notion of our Lord's power; though, in another, her faith aimed at something very high; for she immediately added, But I know, &c. John 11:22 insinuating, that she believed hisprayer might yet restore her brother to life: however, as she thought he could not of himself raise the dead, she founded her hopes not on his own power, but on the power of God, in a general sense, to be exerted at his intercession. It seems, she had not heard of theresurrection either of Jairus's daughter, or of the widow of Nain's son; or, if she had heard of them, she might think her brother's resurrection more difficult than theirs, as he had been so long in a state of death.

John 11:21-22

21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.