Jesus Wept

Let’s briefly make our way through the next section of Jesus’ encounter with Martha and Mary at the death of Lazarus and make some interesting comments along the way. We will be looking at John 11:28-38. I think your heart will be blessed and encouraged.

If you recall from my John 11 Awards (March 6), verse 28 received ‘The Most Surprising Response’ award. Here Martha runs to Mary and SENDS her to Jesus. Quite the turnaround from the Martha of Luke 10:39-40 who criticized Mary for spending so much time at His feet!

As you would expect, Mary quickly ran to Jesus, followed by her sea of mourners who figured she was heading to the tomb to mourn the loss of her brother (verses 29-31).

Now~~read verse 32! MARY said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” These are the same words Martha expressed in verse 21. You might have expected that from Martha, but from Mary? This just serves as a reminder-none of us fully ‘get it’. Don’t feel badly if you struggle with not understanding the workings of God! Mary, of all people, struggled too! Sometimes it just 'makes our brain hurt'!

Poor Jesus (humanly speaking)! He had just gone through this scenario with Martha. Now, faithful Mary was expressing the same concerns! Mary is weeping. Her friends are weeping. Martha is probably weeping as well! No one seems to ‘get it’~~and Jesus wept (verse 35)! His heart was saddened. Not because He was mourning the death of a friend, but rather, His heart was broken for those around Him who were hurting. He wept for those who didn’t ‘get it’.

Some of the mourners thought it was so sweet that Jesus loved and cared for Lazarus so much! They didn’t ‘get it’ that actually He was weeping because He loved and cared for THEM so much~~and He was once again deeply moved (verse 38).

Dear friends, in response to the question Martha so begrudgingly asked in Luke 10:40-"Lord, don’t you care…?"  

Yes, He really DOES care!

I think this makes a good stopping point this time around. We will have to look at “The Good Ol’ Martha” award next time where we see a small glimpse of the old Martha. But, I think we will have to change the title of the award, or it will become the Good Ol’ Debbie (or put in your name) Award!

Debbie