Guest blogger and partner, Mary Ann Addington
Co-Author of When Life Comes Undone
Last night as I was getting ready to fall asleep I
was listening to
John 11 from the YouVersion
app (LifeChurch TV). It was
one of those times when hearing it delivered in a novel way helped me to understand it in a new light.
Three things stood out in a new
way: First, how
intentional Jesus was in letting Lazarus die.
Verse 5-6,”Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So that when he heard that he was sick, He
stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” Jesus had a purpose in allowing Lazarus to die
and He knew that He would raise Lazarus from the dead.
Second, Jesus
wept. John 11:35 is the verse all kids
love to get credit for memorizing.
Jesus had been confronted by Martha and then Mary for not showing up
when they needed him and allowing their brother to die. Jesus is not offended by their rebuke and
gently reminds Martha that He is the resurrection and the life. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus’s home in Bethany
was a place where Jesus could just hang out over a good meal and enjoy the
human pleasure of friendship. When Jesus
wept it was not for the death of a friend that he loved because he already knew
that Lazarus would live again, but He wept for the pain in the hearts of his
friends.
Third, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and in doing so triggered the conspiracy by the
chief priests and Pharisees to kill him.
It would have been a whole lot simpler to stay on the banks of the
Jordan River and avoid that whole mess.
Like Martha and Mary there have been times in life
when I have asked, “Why Lord? Why did I
have miscarriages instead of daughters?
Why did my mom have to die a long and painful death after a car
accident? Why do we still live with the results of serious illness? Why do we have to live with pain? I don’t get why you allow babies to die, why
people I love suffer and die; why there is so much cruelty and injustice.” We all have heard people say if God is so
good why does he allow bad things to happen to good people? Why does life hurt so much some times?
In allowing evil God allowed each of us to choose to
love Him and live for Him. In coming to
earth and dying and rising again Jesus provided the ultimate solution for evil
and the opportunity for each of us to “rise again on the last day,” as Martha
said.
God could intervene in every
situation and save us from them, but chose instead to provide a much bigger
solution that lasts for eternity. It
would have been a lot less messy for Jesus never to enter into our problem of
pain and evil and to suffer and die for a problem he had nothing to do with
starting. He could have stayed distant
and fixed millions of painful situations without feeling the pain or effort of
really getting in the mess of life with us.
Jesus wept.
Not for his loss, but for our pain.
When we cry out in pain, Jesus weeps with us. He fully bought into our brokenness and he
walks with us through the mess of our pain.
Sometimes when a prayer group I am a part of is praying for a victim of
abuse or other hard situations we will ask them to ask Jesus where he was when
it was happening . So far, in our
experience, they can always find him and he is always weeping with them in
their pain.
Jesus came to earth and got into the messy business
of humans. Jesus suffered and died a
messy death to provide a solution for the ultimate cause of our pain. Jesus rose again bringing the promise of our
own resurrection and eternal life. Jesus
wept and still weeps with us in our pain.
3 comments:
Beautiful, heartfelt and well expressed. Thanks for putting a coda on a fantastic Resurrection Day!
I couldn't help but think of the Epistle to the Hebrews, especially 4:14-15. Thanks, and blessings to you both.
Beautifully said!!
Post a Comment