Passage
Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”
John 11:40 (WEB)
Nearby Context
John 11:38 Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
John 11:39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
John 11:40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”
John 11:41 So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me.
John 11:42 I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "jesus", "said", "didn", "tell", "believed", and "glory". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "jesus" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 39's "Jesus said Take away the stone Martha..." into verse 41's "So they took away the stone from...", so "jesus" and "said" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "jesus" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.