Sermon nuggets Thurs July 3
Theme- Overcoming Death
Verses- John 11:28-37 And 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."
29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
31 When 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.
32 When 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."
33 When 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.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
The Special Passion
Jesus not only showed compassion, but passion as well. He was not only showing his love to the family in coming to them in their grief, but weeps with them. He is among the mourners.
Jesus exhibited the human experience of grief. We have just read one of the most marvelous words written regarding the hope of the believer who faces death. But that does not deny the reality of human loss and the sharing of emotional empathy with those we love.
I got to wonder if the reason Jesus wept was because He called Lazarus back from the dead. He had to come back to the world of this life with its pain and sorrow and for Lazarus he had to die all over again later. Lazarus would have been better off if he had not been called back from the tomb. When we leave this world it is a far better healing that anything doctors or medicine can do. But for now it pleases God to show off the power and glory of Christ by raising Lazarus so people can be saved.
Grief is reaction to loss. There is nothing wrong with it. There is something right with it. Not all person experience grief in the same way and to the same degree. A lot depends on the closeness of the relationship, on the personality of the person, and the change in the future habits, and the nature of the death.
Wailing, weeping and fainting are seen sometimes to an excess, in our opinions, when we see the Middle Eastern people experience grief. Cultures express their feelings in different ways as well as families. One can be passionately in love, or passionately angry, or passionately excited. At times of death there are stages of grief psychologists tell us most people go through. I think they are demonstrated in this story.
After the initial shock stage, when your body numbs itself to tragic news it is easy to slip for a time into denial. It may take awhile to process the reality of a death of a loved one. I think we get a hint of this when both Mary and Martha repeat the same phrase independently in the presence of Jesus. "If you would have been here, my brother would not have died." Certainly this is an expression in the faith they had in Jesus as Lord, He could have healed Lazarus. But it is also saying to me they repeated that over and over again among themselves emotionally trying to think of other ways in which death would not have to have happened. One is playing out in their minds the alternatives as if there was a solution that would kept someone from dying. "If only we didn't take this car the accident wouldn't have happened. If only the Doctor caught it earlier he wouldn't have died, If only I would have warned him to stop smoking maybe he wouldn't have died of lung cancer." This is our psychological way of trying to think of alternatives to reality, but it still doesn't change the reality.
But I think Mary and Martha’s statement is the normal grief expression of anger. They did do something about it. They prayed. They sent a message to Jesus and Jesus didn't do what they wanted him to do. Isn't that the case with most people? We are angry. Some are angry at the one who died, or themselves, or the parties involved in the accident, or with the doctor, but most are angry at God who in their minds should and could have prevented it. It is an expression of anger which is normal in grief. We can't change it and it frustrates us.
Another expression of grief is the release of emotion. I'm glad the scriptures include that not only the women wept, but Jesus did too. The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35, "Jesus wept." Jesus had passion. He showed emotion. Why were there were tears? Why did Jesus weep? I believe He wept because He was human. He experienced what we experience. Loneliness, sorrow, grief are human experiences and that is for Christians too. I believe there is a spiritual need to express emotion and at the right time tears. There are appropriate tears of empathy and bearing of sorrow with loved ones. The Bible says,"weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice."
Sometimes little boys are told, "I thought you are a really big boy now, don't cry." "Someone will see you and laugh, don't cry." I am not impressed with this culture that tries to tell men to stuff their emotions and do not allow for their expression. People will think you are not a real man. There is a theory that reason there are many more heart attacks experienced by men than women is the cultural expectation that men must hold their emotions in and women can express them freer and without embarrassment.
It is normal when we adjust to loss to feel sad, depressed, confused, to wonder if we are passing through a bad dream, It's normal to have angry feelings, to have our hearts ask, "Why God?" It is normal to feel guilt, to feel like you should have spent more time with the loved one, or sorry for not sharing some thing with them, or could have had a better relationship.
There are some other thoughts that come to my mind when I think of this passion of Jesus. Perhaps we see his sorrow over the effects that Satan has on this world. Death is an enemy. Satan kills. He saw again the tool of Satan at work.
Jesus went to them. He listened, He accepted their feelings, He shared with Mary in her feelings. If we do that we do a lot to help during tragic times. Generally we do not like to be around hurting people, but that helps in healing grief more than we understand by a friend who loves us and accepts us. Because of Jesus there is special passion.
Pastor Dale
