Sometimes I don’t even begin to understand everything there is to be gleaned from a passage until I look deeper into it to prepare to preach on it. I suppose that’s a no-brainer for anyone who has prepared to preach. At the same time for anyone who does preach they know the excitement I feel when God reveals something deeper because of that willful intent to study the passage.
In John 11 1- 44 a story unfolds that displays the miraculous power that Jesus posses. The story goes that Jesus hears of the grave illness that a friend has been struck with. A messenger comes to inform him and he seems unaffected by the news. The omniscience of Jesus is revealed in that some time after he gets the report that Lazarus is sick, without a second message being sent, Jesus reveals the fact that he knows Lazarus is dead.
most of us see that in this passage that Jesus eventually resuscitated Lazarus from the dead to display his power and take the opportunity to educate everyone that the resurrection life is only attained thru Him.
Now what really struck me this time around as I read the passage was the compassion that Jesus had for everyone who was grieving. He knew everything that had happened and everything that was about to happen. He knew that things were going to turn out all right in the moment and in the future. He could have cut their conversations short and not let them carry on in front of him.
Waht he did do was speak words of comfort and hope to them. That would be expected, but he also, because of his deep love and sensitivity for people, showed compassion and empathy toward them. He let both Martha and Mary vent their frustrations with him and to him. He let the grief of his friends and their friends deeply affect him. He grieved with them even though he knew the outcome. Jesus wept because they wept.
But Jesus goes even further. He even asks Mary to show him where Lazarus is buried. (if he is omniscient would he not know where he was buried?). What I see new and fresh is that he facilitates their grief. He did not gloss over their grief but took time to validate their genuine heartfelt emotions as they understood, with limitations, the events that took place.
Often times in the awkwardness of not knowing what to say, rather than validating the grief, we suppress it with what we think are helpful statements. “I’m sure God has his reasons.” “God needed another angel in heaven.” “In time you’ll get over it.” “Time heals all wounds.”
How often do we take the time to genuinely facilitate grief? How often do we weep with others as they grieve in front of us? How many of us can say we unabashedly weep with the weeping? And why shouldn’t we? We are created in His image.
How awesome a God we have who loves us so much that he does not interrupt the bereaved in their grief even when he knows the outcome is for the better. Can we strive to do the same?
John 11 (New International Version)
John 11
Jesus Comforts the Sisters
17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was less than two miles[a] from Jerusalem, 19and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ,[b] the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
28And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34"Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied.
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39"Take away the stone," he said.
"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
40Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."
43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
