Resurrection and the Life
“God didn’t show up! I asked, and prayed, and He was silent…He just left me in this mess.” At times in our lives, it’s going to feel like God doesn’t love us. Maybe you’re in a situation where it feels like God has abandoned you because He’s not showing up to answer your prayers. I’m sure that’s how Martha felt in John 11. She’d sent word to Jesus that his friend Lazarus, her brother, was very sick. When Jesus heard that news, knowing that Martha was asking for Jesus come and help, he responded in love: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. (11:6)” Jesus loved them so much, that he dropped everything and traveled through the night to get to them stayed right where he was.
God’s Good Timing
What’s amazing about the story is that Jesus delayed so long that his friend died, and even then Jesus delayed so that he wouldn’t have gotten to his friends until the 4th day after Lazarus’ death. The 4th day was the most intense; the most sad. It was at this point that his friend’s body would start decaying, and everyone would know that there was no hope for Lazarus at all. He was gone. We typically don’t want God to wait that long. We don’t want him to wait until we’ve exhausted all of our options. We don’t want him to wait until the peak of sadness. But as he waited, it exposed some things in Martha and Mary’s heart that needed exposing, and it would be clear that Jesus “would be glorified through it. (11:4)” If it feels like God isn’t showing up right now, maybe he’s being good to expose some things in your heart. Or maybe he’s going to make it clear that he loves and cares for you by waiting until the timing is perfect for you to see that.
God’s Good Love
Martha wasn’t too happy. She was actually a bit accusatory. She basically said, “Jesus, if you had just shown up, this wouldn’t have happened (11:21)!” If Jesus had just answered her request, there wouldn’t be this sadness, this loss, this tragedy. Have you ever felt that way? “Where were you Jesus? Where were you when my marriage died? Where were you when I lost my job? Where were you when I prayed and prayed and the test showed that it’s cancer? Where were you??” I really love that Jesus doesn’t get upset at Martha for pouring out her heart to him, even slightly accusing him for this. Her raw emotions aren’t met with anger that she’s forgetting truth about him. Jesus is patient and kind with her, just like he is with us. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this (11:25)?” He calls Martha into deeper faith as he loves her.
God’s Good Emotions
And then Jesus sees Mary. Mary falls at Jesus’ feet, crying. When Jesus sees where Lazarus’ dead body is, he begins to cry too. The word for his crying doesn’t mean that his eyes got a little misty, like yours did at the end of Titanic, it means that tears were streaming down his face. And then, in verse 38, it says he was “deeply moved” at the tomb. That could also be translated as an “outburst of anger.” Crying. Anger. Jesus enters into our experience emotionally. He’s experienced the tragedy and evilness of death. It makes him sad. It makes him angry. And through sadness and anger at sin, which leads to death, Jesus prays. Jesus shows us how to come at tragedy. We mourn. We get angry at sin and death and the enemy. And we turn to God as our hope for resurrection and life.
God’s Good Work
“And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go (11:41-44).” Jesus does bring victory over sin, death, and Satan. He is stronger than our sadness, stronger than our pain, stronger than the enemy. It’s through Jesus that God will have victory over these things.
Whatever it is that you’re crying out to God about, know this: God’s timing is perfect, God’s love is sure, God’s emotions are relatable, and God’s work is promised. Jesus is the resurrection and the life in every situation you’re currently experiencing.
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