MOVED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him.

Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him. 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.

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.”

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” He asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

But some of them said, “Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

John 11:28-37

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus’ encounter with Lazarus’ sister, Martha, on the outskirts of Bethany had been a powerful encounter.

As you’ll remember from yesterday’s message, Jesus assured Martha that her brother would rise again, not at the last day as she believed, but because of His special connection to Jesus, the One who was as He claimed, the Resurrection and the Life, something Martha said she believed.

Well, as our scripture passage opens today, we find Martha running back to find her sister Mary, telling her:

“The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”

Mary, who you’ll recalled had shown her devotion to Jesus by pouring perfume on His feet and wiped them with her hair (v. 2), went running to see Him and she wasn’t alone. We know this because we read that there were other Jews at Mary’s home who had been comforting her who followed Mary, believing she was headed to the tomb where her brother was laid to rest in order to mourn.

But Mary was not headed there and the scriptures tell us that when she reached Jesus, she fell at His feet and said:

“Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

It was an emotional statement made by Mary. We know this because she was weeping as were the Jews who had now gathered after following her.

What impact did this have on Jesus?

It was heavy.

We know that Jesus loved Lazarus (v. 3) and after seeing Mary and the others greatly grieved by Lazarus’ passing, we see in our passage where he was “deeply moved in spirit and troubled, so much so that He began weeping Himself. This convinced others gathered that Jesus truly did care deeply for Lazarus, even though some pondered whether Lazarus would be dead if Jesus had just been there sooner, just as Martha and Mary did. After all, Jesus did open the eyes of a blind man so if He had that power, He may have been able to heal Lazarus while he was still alive.

What they didn’t know is that Jesus had a different plan in mind, one that would blow their minds far beyond a mere healing from sickness. They were about to see Jesus take miracles to a whole new level as He displays the power to bring the dead back to life.

Through the scriptures today, we have seen people moved in different ways.

Mary and the people were moved to speculate whether things could have been different if Jesus had only been there sooner.

This same group, along with Jesus, was moved to tears in response to the deep loss they felt.

In addition to His tears, Jesus found His spirit troubled, responding to His dear friend’s death, even though He knew He would soon resurrect Him. Through His emotions, we are reminded that although Jesus was fully God, He was also fully human and accordingly carried all the emotions and vulnerabilities that came along with that. This is why He can relate to us so well. He came and lived the human experience Himself.

This devotion leads us to a question:

What leads us to feel moved?

There are any number of worldly events that can take us to this place, events that impact our emotions in range of ways. There are joys and there are sorrows. We laugh and we weep. We’re brave but we can also be fearful and anxious. We’re happy sometimes and angry others. We rejoice and we mourn. The list can go on and on.

But it’s okay. It’s okay to me moved and be human. We can allow our emotions to flow freely because Jesus did and it was okay to do so, as long as our emotions aren’t grounded in sin. Jesus never went to that place.

So today and every day, allow Jesus to move you toward being honest with your own emotions and know that no matter what you’re going through, He is right there with you, in the good and bad times, feeling jubilation with you when things are great and comforting you when they aren’t.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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