John 11 He Knows

John 11:28-37

“He Knows!”

John 11:28-37 says, “And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, ‘The Teacher has come and is calling for you.’ As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, ‘She is going to the tomb to weep there.’ Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.’ Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to Him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, ‘See how He loved him!’ And some of them said, ‘Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also kept this man from dying?”

Author Edgar Jackson describes grief: Grief is a young widow trying to raise her three children alone. Grief is the man so filled with shocked uncertainty and confusion that he strikes out at the nearest person. Grief is a mother walking daily to a nearby cemetery to stand quietly and alone a few minutes before going about the tasks of the day. She knows that a part of her is in the cemetery, just as part of her is in her daily work. Grief is the silent, knife-like terror and sadness that comes a hundred times a day, when you start to speak to someone who is no longer there. Grief is the emptiness that comes when you eat alone after eating with another for many years. Grief is teaching yourself to go to bed without saying good night to the one who has died. Grief is the helpless wishing that things were different when you know they are not and never will be again. Grief is a whole cluster of adjustments, apprehensions, and uncertainties that strike life in its forward progress and make it difficult to redirect the energies of life.”

In the text before us this morning, loss and grief have struck a family, but not just any family, a family very near and dear to the heart of Jesus. In the beginning of this chapter, we are told that Lazarus of Bethany, the brother of Mary and Martha, had become gravely sick. He was so sick that word was sent to Jesus about the situation. Instead of going immediately, the Bible records that Jesus stayed two more days where He was. After two days, Jesus told His disciples that Lazarus had died, and they began to make their journey toward Bethany.

When Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Many of the Jews, probably friends and neighbors, had come to comfort Mary and Martha in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had arrived, she met Him and said, “Lord if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” After Martha had said this, Jesus took the opportunity to declare this great truth, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

It is after this that Martha goes and finds Mary and tells her that Jesus has arrived. Mary quickly left the house to find Jesus. The Jews that had come to mourn the loss with Mary and Martha followed Mary because they thought she was going to the tomb to weep. In verse 32, we are told that Mary finds Jesus and she falls at His feet, and she basically said the same words that Martha did, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Now, these words to do express that Mary and Martha were upset with Jesus. These words simply express the faith they had in Jesus, and they believed that Jesus could have healed Lazarus of this sickness before it took his life.

So, up to this point, Jesus has encountered Martha and Mary, as well as the Jews who had come to comfort and mourn with the family. And now in verse 33, we come to the word “Therefore.” Church, “therefore” is a connecting word. It is connecting what has been said in all of chapter eleven so far to what is about to happen or transpire. And what came after that connecting word are these words, “Jesus saw.” Friends, again, the title of the message this morning is, “He Knows.” And what we are about to see is that Jesus truly knows and understands our grief when death takes one we love.

1. Jesus Sees Our Grief (vs. 33a)

The Bible states, “Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping.” The word “weeping” means to wail, and Mary and the Jews were weeping because of the great loss they had experienced. Death shook Mary, Martha, and the rest who had come to bring comfort to this family. Jesus looked around and He saw this family and their friend’s passionate expressions of grief. And church we need to remember, these were friends of Jesus. He had been in their home. He had meals with them. Martha would be busy serving, while Mary would be reclining at His feet. But now, tragedy had struck this home, and the once joyful conversations they would have with another, had turned to tears.

They were grieving over the loss of a dear brother. They were expressing this time of grief through great sorrow. They were not silent in their grief, again the word for weeping means to wail or to lament loudly. Their grief was real, their grief was visible, and friends, Jesus noticed it. The Bible states again, “He saw.” Jesus does not turn a blind eye to those He loves during their times of loss and sorrow. He sees what His friends were going through, and church, He still sees what we are going through when we lose someone that we love. Last week, we looked and Jeremiah grieving over the destruction of Jerusalem, the death and deportation of the people he loved. But in the midst of his mourning, he remembered the Lord! The Lord knows and sees, and because of this, it brought comfort and joy to the prophet’s heart in the midst of his agony and despair.

Church, rest assured this morning. God has not abandoned you in your time of loss and grief. He sees what you are going through. The grief expressed here in John 11 caught to Lord’s direct attention, and I want you to know today, the grief that you are expressing and experiencing has caught the attention of the Lord. He knows and He sees it! He sees our grief and mourning!

2. Jesus Feels the Affects of Death (vs. 33b)

Mary fell at Jesus’ feet, uttered a few words, and then she was overcome with great sorrow and began to weep. And when Jesus say this, John 11:33b states, “He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.” The word “groaned” can be translated as “deeply moved.” A better translation of the word means to be “deeply agitated” or “to be angry.” John MacArthur states, “It literally means to snort like a horse.” Now friends, I do not believe that Jesus was snorting like a horse, but it gives us a good picture of what He feeling.

Jesus felt angry, he was deeply disturbed, but why? I believe Jesus was angry because of the painful reality of sin and death. Sin not only has ravaged this world that He created, sin brought death into the world. Church, death was not a part of God’s plan in the beginning. God did not desire for man to sin or to die. Man was not originally created to experience death as image bearers of God. But when sin entered the world after Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord, death followed as a consequence for their sin.

Church, Jesus is deeply moved by what death causes. He is not blind to what does causes us to feel. He is angry at how sin and death have ravaged our world, but also how death ravages us when we lose a loved one.

The text also states that Jesus was “troubled.” This is another word used to describe a strong emotion. It means to be agitated. Jesus was not apathetic to what Mary or her friends were expressing. He felt their sorrow and He shared in the grief of His friends. Some commentators suggest Jesus shook with emotion. Jesus was so moved by what He saw it literally caused his body to tremble. Friends, Jesus is not blind to what we feel when death enters our world. One member I interviewed stated, “I do not like death.” Well brothers and sisters, Jesus doesn’t like death either, and the emotion He is expressing here clearly shows that. Church, Jesus knows!

3. He Knows Our Grief (vs. 34-35)

In verse 34, Jesus asks, “Where have you laid him?” He simply asks where Lazarus has been buried, and they state, “Lord, come and see.” But before Jesus could even get to the tomb were Lazarus was buried, we come to the shortest verse in the Bible. This verse may be short, but Warren Wiersbe rightly states, “It is the shortest and yet the deepest verse in Scripture.” Verse 35 simply states, “Jesus wept.”

Why is this verse so important to us when we grieve and express sorrow over a loved one? Because this verse truly reveals the humanity of Jesus. Yes, Jesus is fully God, but He is also fully man. The word “wept” simply means that Jesus burst into tears. Jesus has fully entered our world that is full of suffering, sorrow, loss and death. And since Jesus became man, He knows! He knows and understands what Mary, Martha, and their friends were experiencing because He felt it too. He knows and understands what we feel when we lose someone that we love so much. And friends, I dare say that because Jesus is the God-Man, He not only understands and sympathizes with us, I believe He experiences grief in deeper ways than we do.

Church, Jesus’ tears shows us His love for us. Jesus’ tears show us His sympathy and empathy toward us in our time of need. It affirms Hebrews 5 in that Jesus is our High Priest, and because He is our High Priest, He can and will have compassion on us. His tears affirm Isaiah 53:3 in where Isaiah writes that He is, “A man of sorrows and acquainted with our grief.” His tears affirm Hebrews 4:14-15 and it states, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Friends, Jesus knows, He has experienced what we have experienced by becoming man. He is our great High priest who can sympathize with us, and because He is our High Priest, we can boldly come before Him and get the help, mercy, and grace desperately need in our seasons of loss.

In 1900, Frank Graeff wrote the following words:

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained

Too deeply for mirth and song,

As burdens press, and the cares distress,

And the way grows weary and long?

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Does Jesus care when my way is dark

With a nameless dread and fear?

As the daylight fades into deep night shades,

Does He care enough to be near?

Oh yes, He cares – I know He cares!

His heart is touched with my grief;

When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,

I know my Savior cares.

Church, some in the crowd was indifferent, but others in the crowd rightly stated, “See how He loved him!” My church family, Jesus loved Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. He loved all that were present that day, but do not fail to realize that Jesus cares and loves you too!

He wept that day because His heart went out to Mary and Martha and their friends. He wept because of the grief that death brings. He wept because His heart was broken at the sadness and sorrow death brings. Even though in just a few moments Jesus would raise Lazarus from the dead, He still expressed sorrow, He still expressed grief over what death had caused.

Our Savior knows and understands. He knows your hurt, and He knows my hurt. He knows your pain, and He knows my pain. He not only sees our grief, He knows and feels our grief. He knows your burden, and He knows my burden. He knows what death has caused us to feel, and He knows what death has caused me to feel. Church, Jesus knows and Jesus loves you!

At the beginning of this sermon, I shared what Edgar Jackson thought about grief. And I believe he accurately described it, but I am going to read it again, but I am going to add something to it. Grief is a young widow trying to raise her three children alone, but Jesus knows! Grief is the man so filled with shocked uncertainty and confusion that he strikes out at the nearest person, but Jesus knows! Grief is a mother walking daily to a nearby cemetery to stand quietly and alone a few minutes before going about the tasks of the day. She knows that a part of her is in the cemetery, just as part of her is in her daily work, but Jesus knows! Grief is the silent, knife-like terror and sadness that comes a hundred times a day, when you start to speak to someone who is no longer there, but Jesus knows! Grief is the emptiness that comes when you eat alone after eating with another for many years, but Jesus knows! Grief is teaching yourself to go to bed without saying good night to the one who has died, but Jesus knows! Grief is the helpless wishing that things were different when you know they are not and never will be again, but Jesus knows! Grief is a whole cluster of adjustments, apprehensions, and uncertainties that strike life in its forward progress and make it difficult to redirect the energies of life, but Jesus knows!

IBC, don’t ever believe Satan’s lie that Jesus doesn’t know, understand, or care. He does! In “Though I Walk Through the Valley,” Vance Havner shares this story. He states, “During the London blitz of World War II many children were evacuated to the country by order of the government. As one load pulled out, someone asked a youngster, “Where are you going?” He replied, “I don’t know BUT THE KING KNOWS!” I don’t know where I’m headed or what lies out there, BUT MY KING KNOWS!”

IBC, our KING KNOWS!