John 11:35, verse 27, John is showing you something that matters for anyone who has ever had correct theology and a broken heart at the same time, true doctrine does not make grief imaginary, but doctrine must lead somewhere, it must lead to trust in Christ himself. Martha goes back into the morning house and calls Mary secretly, the teacher has come and is calling for you, Mary rises quickly, that one detail changes the pace, she does not slowly prepare herself, she does not wait for the room the settle, she gets up goes. The mourners see her leave and assume she is going to the tomb to weep there , so they follow her.
The grief moves now, it spills out of the house and down the road, a small procession of sorrow following a woman who wants Jesus, they think Mary is going to a grave, Mary is going to Christ. When Mary reaches him, she falls at his feet and she says the same sentence Martha said, John 11:32, same words, different posture, same wound, different scene, Martha met Jesus standing, Mary collapses at his feet, faith can fall at Jesus’ feet and still weep. Mary’s grief is not far from Jesus, it is at his feet, she has not run away from him with her pain, she has brought the pain directly to him and this time Jesus does not answer first with a declaration.
John 11:33, before John says Jesus wept, he says Jesus was deeply moved and troubled, that order matters, the sound of grief is all around him, Mary is weeping, the mourners are weeping, the tomb is closed, Lazarus is dead and Jesus is not emotionally untouched. The words John uses here are strong, many interpreters understand them to include deep agitation, even indignation, though John does not give one sentence that identifies the exact object of that indignation. The scene itself gives the pressure, Jesus is standing before death, grief, unbelief and the ruin that sin has brought into the world.
This is more than mild sadness, Jesus is profoundly disturbed before death and what death has done, scripture does not treat death as harmless, 1 Corinthians 15:26, the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. At Bethany, that enemy is not an abstract idea, it has taken a brother, it has filled a home with mourners, it has put Martha on the road and Mary on the ground, it has sealed a cave with a stone and Jesus asks, where have you laid him? They say, Lord, come and see, then John gives you the two words, John 11:35, Jesus wept.
The grief moves now, it spills out of the house and down the road, a small procession of sorrow following a woman who wants Jesus, they think Mary is going to a grave, Mary is going to Christ. When Mary reaches him, she falls at his feet and she says the same sentence Martha said, John 11:32, same words, different posture, same wound, different scene, Martha met Jesus standing, Mary collapses at his feet, faith can fall at Jesus’ feet and still weep. Mary’s grief is not far from Jesus, it is at his feet, she has not run away from him with her pain, she has brought the pain directly to him and this time Jesus does not answer first with a declaration.
John 11:33, before John says Jesus wept, he says Jesus was deeply moved and troubled, that order matters, the sound of grief is all around him, Mary is weeping, the mourners are weeping, the tomb is closed, Lazarus is dead and Jesus is not emotionally untouched. The words John uses here are strong, many interpreters understand them to include deep agitation, even indignation, though John does not give one sentence that identifies the exact object of that indignation. The scene itself gives the pressure, Jesus is standing before death, grief, unbelief and the ruin that sin has brought into the world.
This is more than mild sadness, Jesus is profoundly disturbed before death and what death has done, scripture does not treat death as harmless, 1 Corinthians 15:26, the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. At Bethany, that enemy is not an abstract idea, it has taken a brother, it has filled a home with mourners, it has put Martha on the road and Mary on the ground, it has sealed a cave with a stone and Jesus asks, where have you laid him? They say, Lord, come and see, then John gives you the two words, John 11:35, Jesus wept.