How the Risen Jesus Helps Us Suffer With Hope
Notes
Transcript
When I was 17, me and the other kids in my senior class received our first brush with tragedy. In August of that summer, one of our classmates was killed in a car accident. I’m going to call her Alison to protect her family’s identity. She was 16. We had grown up together at Burkemont, my home church. That same day, our youth group had just gotten back from a mission trip. I didn’t go that year, but God had visited them in a powerful way on that trip and many of them came back as different people. I’m told that she was one of them.
They had just gotten off the bus when she got in her car along with one of my good friends who had also gone on the trip. They stopped at her parents’ house to tell her mom and dad hello, and then headed from there across town. They had plans to meet her boyfriend at an ice cream shop. They never made it. Her car somehow managed to leave the surface of the road on a sharp curve and flip over. The car landed upside down about 15 feet below the edge of the road in the middle of the Morganton Greenway walking trail. For years you could go there and still see the dents her car made in the concrete. From there her car bounced and rolled down another embankment and came to rest near the river. Alison was killed on impact. My good friend Brian, with her in the front seat, was transported to Baptist Hospital where he spent the next several weeks recovering from a traumatic brain injury.
I’ll never forget that afternoon at the hospital in Morganton as long as I live. Gradually it seemed as though our whole church family had gathered in the emergency room there as the family waited to hear what would happen to Brian. Up until that point, I had never really witnessed people grieving. I wasn’t accustomed to the wailing and the weeping. All around me, adults were falling to pieces, and these were man and women who had always seemed to me to be unfailing rocks of stability. I was forever changed by what I saw and heard that day.
But what was more impactful was how in our church family, a strong stream of new life began to run alongside that river of grief. Young men and women from my high school were saved. Others recommitted themselves to Christ. New projects were underway to honor Alison, some of them enduring to this day. God seemed to be bringing something beautiful out of this deep pain, something we wouldn’t otherwise have had.
But grief like that doesn’t always have a happy ending. That same year, just a few months later, another of our classmates was killed in a car accident with a transfer truck. The circumstances surrounding his death were very different. I remember the funeral. His mother got up and read a poem about her son. She was very calm, totally composed, almost emotionless. A few weeks later, we got news that she had died. The cause of death was also a car crash - the same kind of crash as her son. She had rented a small compact car and gone to the place where her son died in his accident. She intentionally drove herself head-on into a transfer truck.
Now those two stories, heartbreaking as they are, illustrate for us that there are two ways to respond to a tragedy. And I would like to suggest to you this morning that one determining factor in how a person responds to tragedy and suffering is whether or not they choose to allow their suffering to drive them closer to Jesus, or whether they allow their suffering to drive a wedge between us and Jesus.
Now, Christian or non-Christian, grief is always hard. The loss of a loved one, or a cancer diagnosis, or some other type of hardship - these are things you really can’t prepare yourself for. But these stories I’ve told illustrate for us that there are two ways suffering and grief can end up, two different ways to respond to grief. And I would like to suggest to you this morning that a large determining factor in how a person responds to tragedy and suffering is whether or not they choose to allow their suffering to drive them closer to Jesus, or whether they allow their suffering to drive a wedge between us and Jesus.
We know that as Christians we are to be men and women who grieve differently from the rest of the world. We grieve with hope, Paul says. We don’t grieve and suffer as those who don’t have that hope. And I want to say from the outset that that doesn’t mean that the pain and suffering always goes away. Many times it does not. But for the Christian, the wonderful reality is that sorrow and joy can co-exist. Pain and hope can co-exist. The hope and joy may never replace the sorrow and pain, but the hope and joy can run alongside the sorrow and the pain. That is what it means to grieve with hope.
Well, I don’t know about you, but I would like to learn how to do that. I want to learn how to allow my pain and suffering to drive me closer to Jesus instead of push me away from Him. How do we do that? Our passage this morning, which is the most well-known resurrection story in the NT, shows us how Jesus helps us do that. How does Jesus help us grieve with hope?
#1: Jesus sometimes allows our lives to fall apart
#1: Jesus sometimes allows our lives to fall apart
a. Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick. Lazarus’s sisters were also close friends of Jesus. They sent word to Jesus to inform him, messengers coming with a message that carried heartache with it. This was the first century equivalent of the phone call - the one that changes your plans for that day and if you’re particularly close to the person affected, it’s the one that forevers alters the course of your life. Look with me at these circumstances and let’s see what that message was.
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
That message said, “Jesus, the one you love is sick” (John 11:3 NIV). Notice that there’s no name given. Apparently it wasn’t necessary. Jesus had a close relationship with Mary and Martha, who were Lazarus’ sisters. And he evidently had a close relationship with Lazarus, too, so that all they needed to say was “the one you love is sick”. This message, though, is doing more than just informing Jesus. The intent is to politely summon Jesus. First century Jewish culture was very polite. They had a way of saying things without saying them. It was considered rude to place an obligation on someone. In other words, they wanted Jesus to come and perhaps heal Lazarus. But they didn’t want to directly ask Him to do that. So they leave that part out. It was a social convention. Jesus hears “the one you love is sick”, and He knows that what Mary and Martha are really asking, the thing they’re really yearning and longing for, is for Jesus to respond to that news by getting himself to Bethany as soon as possible.
And that’s interesting, especially considering that Jesus does the exact opposite of that. Look with me at verses 5-6.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
We expect that Jesus will get himself in high gear and race to the city of Bethany were Lazarus was. After all, Jesus loves Lazarus. Jesus loves his sisters Mary and Martha. If He loves them, we would expect that Jesus would want to go and save Lazarus from death. The desire, we would think, should be there. But not just the desire - the ability, too. Jesus is fully man but He’s also fully God. Not only would Jesus want to save Lazarus. Jesus is able to save Lazarus.
We should stop right here and repeat what we said before. Jesus sometimes allows our lives to fall apart. Anyone in this room this morning that has ever faced suffering, you know it’s true. We were painfully reminded of that this week. Tragedy has struck our own church family. Jesus allowed Steve and Tammy Mayhew’s life to fall apart Monday morning. Sunday evening, they all enjoyed family time together and had every expectation they would do it again this weekend. Instead, they had a funeral this weekend for their 29-year-old daughter.
We don’t know why and it’s always best to admit that and not try to figure out why. But there is at least one thing we can rule out. God did not take Stephanie’s life because He doesn’t love Steve and Tammy or their family or this church. Jesus didn’t allow Lazarus to die because He didn’t love Lazarus. In fact, we’re reminded of Jesus’ love for Lazarus, and Mary, and Martha, right before we are told that Jesus decided to stay where He was for two more days. God is not an angry God waiting to snatch up our favorite toy when we disobey Him. God is a happy God who is eager to bless us in and through His Son.
But even if we don’t know the specific reasons why, we do get at least one general reason why Jesus delayed and allowed Lazarus’ life to fall apart. This hint is found in verse 4.
But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it
What does that mean, “for the glory of God”? The glory of God, in the Bible, is His beauty, His majesty, His character, His attributes like His love, and power, and holiness, and mercy, and grace, and all of that. God already has all glory. So when the Bible speaks of us glorifying God, it doesn’t mean for us to add to His glory. What it means is for us to live in such a way that makes God’s beauty and majesty apparent and real to all of those around us. Jesus is saying that somehow that will be the case with Lazarus. Jesus will be glorified in and through Lazarus’ sickness and death, which means God will be glorified in and through Jesus.
This, church, is one reason God allows us to suffer. God wants to use us, our lives, our words, our actions, even our failures, yes, even sometimes our pain as a means by which He manifests Himself and His love to you and to those around you who are watching you, and as God does that, they’re watching you and simultaneously they’re seeing God. How does this happen as we suffer? We’ll see that as we go on.
#2: Jesus comes to us in our pain
#2: Jesus comes to us in our pain
Jesus does wait before He goes to Bethany, it’s true. John 11:19 tells us that a lot of Mary and Martha’s friends had to come to mourn with them and encourage them. They’re here; where’s Jesus? They were able to get here on time; why didn’t He?” He has His reasons for that. He wants to do something in Mary’s heart and in Martha’s heart that could not be done any other way. Jesus doesn’t always show up on our time table. But He does show up. Jesus always shows up.
Many of you are familiar with Joni Eareckson Tada. She has been a quadriplegic since her teenage years. She’s written books, spoken at conferences, started a ministry to people with disabilities called Joni and Friends - and she’s done it all with just this amazing joy and radiance.
Recently Joni was diagnosed with cancer. And in the midst of all of the chemo and procedures and tests and pain and uncertainty, her and her husband were discussing God and suffering. And Joni made the comment that, you know, suffering is a splash-over of hell. Suffering is hell splashing over into your life.
Her and her husband discussed that, well, if suffering is a splash-over of hell, what is a splash-over of heaven? Is it sunny days marked with joy and happiness? Is it sunshine and rainbows and bunnies and unicorns and all that? No, they said, because you have all of that without Jesus. A splash-over of heaven, they concluded, and I absolutely love this: A splash-over of heaven is when you find Jesus right smack in the middle of your splash-over of hell.
Jesus always shows up.
So, they go, and when He shows up, Jesus finds Mary and Martha devastated and actually a little frustrated with Him. Both Mary and Martha are – upset? Angry? – that He took so long. Look with me at verses 17-21:
17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. 20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. 21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
They’re saying what so many others have said over the centuries. “God, where were you? Why didn’t you intervene? You had the power to prevent it and yet you didn’t. Why not? Why didn’t you come? Where were you?”
We’ve been conditioned to believe that God would get angry with us for saying those things. But I don’t think He does. I think He understands. Why do I think that? Jesus hears Mary and Martha both say that to Him, and He does not utter a word against them for it. Not a word. Actually He does the opposite. Martha says it, and Jesus begins to encourage her. “Your brother will rise again”, he says to her. Look at this little interchange between them in verses 23-27:
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are athe Christ, the Son of God, even bHe who comes into the world.”
In other words, “Yeah, Jesus, yeah, I know my brother will rise again. I know I’ll see him again, you know, at the last day, when the Messiah returns and the judgment happens and everyone is resurrected. It would, you know, be nice to see him now, but I believe you. There will be a resurrection.” Well, Jesus’ response to that is to say, “I am the resurrection and the life. It’s one of seven of Jesus’ “I AM” statements in John’s gospel. Each one is a clear claim to be God, who in the OT had identified Himself as the “I AM”.
So notice what Jesus is doing here, because it is crucial to understand what it means to really believe, as the NT describes believing. Martha already believed in a coming day of resurrection. All Jews believed this. What Jesus is aiming to do in Martha’s heart is re-orient her hope away from a day in the future and place it in the Person who is standing right in front of her.
“Mary, you don’t understand”, Jesus is saying. The resurrection is not just some day in the future; the resurrection is standing right in front of you, speaking with you. Resurrection life is literally broken into this death-stained world and is transforming lives here and now. Eternal life has broken into this fallen creation and is changing people here and now. And it’s me. “I AM the resurrection and the life”, Jesus says.
“The life he gives is nothing less than the indestructible life of the resurrection, the very life of the deathless God himself.” [Bruce Milne, The Message of John, p163]
Jesus enters our pain. But Jesus also shares our pain.
#3: Jesus shares our pain
#3: Jesus shares our pain
It’s interesting to compare Mary and Martha here. Martha, when she hears that Jesus has come, runs out to meet Him. But Mary stays in the house. Only later does she come out. Mary, too, repeats what Martha said. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”. But Jesus’ response to Mary when she says this is different from His response to Martha when she said it. I can’t be sure, because the text doesn’t say, but I wonder if the difference is because Jesus knows us intimately, inside and out; He knew what Martha needed. She needed verbal encouragement. Maybe Mary needs something different. Mary, I think, needed more than words. She needed to know that Jesus cared about her pain. And the best way to show someone that you care about their pain is to share that pain with them.
Now by the way I think you all have done that this week. I have seen Steve and Tammy surrounded by you all this week. You all were at the hospital with them. You came to their home to comfort them. You might not be able to force them to eat, but no one can say you didn’t offer to stuff them full! You were at the funeral yesterday. You were at the graveside with them yesterday. That’s how you share someone’s pain. You enter it with them and shoulder the burden and meet their needs. That’s what Jesus does for us. That’s what you’ve done for the Mayhews. Now our task is to keep doing that well in the weeks and months ahead, but I know you all will.
Jesus shares Mary’s pain by weeping with her. Look with me at verses 32-35:
Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and cwas troubled, 34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept
Now what I want to draw your attention to is the connection between their sorrow and Jesus’ sorrow. Look with me again at verse 33, and notice how the cause of Jesus’ sorrow was Mary’s sorrow: “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled.” My wife has often told me that all she has to do to cry is to see someone else crying. That’s called empathy. Not everyone is like that, and that’s okay. But the point here is that God is not unaware of your pain. He knows. He shares your sorrow. And, what’s more - and this is something we might miss if we didn’t pay close attention - what’s more is that Jesus is not just sorrowful at what has happened; Jesus is angry.
You see, we were never meant to die. We were created for eternal life. How many times have you heard people say, “Death is a natural, normal part of life.” Do you agree with that? Our culture seems to believe that. Actually our culture has a love-hate relationship with death. We know we can’t avoid it, so on the one hand we invest untold amounts of money and energy and time into putting death off. But on the other hand there’s an eerie embrace of death in our culture, even a love for death, seeing death as our Savior, the solution to our problems. Think of abortion on demand at any point in a woman’s pregnancy. Think of assisted suicide. There are people who will go to their graves to defend and preserve those things.
If you were alive in 1976, and you turned on the radio in your 1976 Ford truck or whatever, you might have heard a song called Don’t Fear the Reaper. It was by Blue Oyster Cult. It actually achieved the top 100 list in the US. The second and third weeks of November of that year saw that song at number 12. The song is also the source of the SNL cowbell skit, if you’re familiar. Listen to some of the lyrics of this song:
“All our times have come // here but now they’re gone // seasons don’t fear the reaper // nor do the wind, the sun or the rain // we can be like they are.”
The chorus repeats the refrain “40,000 men and women every day” and inserted after that is the promise “we can be like they are.”
The song even includes a story of a woman who took his advice to not fear the reaper. “Love of two is one // here but now they’re gone // came the last night of sadness // it was clear she couldn’t go on // then the door was open and the wind appeared // the candles blew and then disappeared // the curtains flew and then he appeared // sayin’ don’t be afraid // and she had no fear // and she ran to him // then they started to fly // they looked backward and said goodbye // she had become like they are // she had taken his hand // come on baby // don’t fear the reaper”.
That song presents death as a welcome relief. And there are some times when death is a relief if they’re suffering greatly. But that song isn’t about that. We know, though, that death is an interruption – never invited, almost always unwelcome. The Bible actually says death is an enemy, because death is the product of our enemy, our adversary, the devil. Death and Satan are Jesus’ foes; He came to defeat them, and He did defeat them through His death and resurrection. That is why Jesus is angry.
We may be at a loss for words right now, but our Savior was not at a loss for words when He did that day what He had come to do. Standing before the tomb, the massive stone rolled away, Jesus composes Himself, takes a deep breath. The sorrow and pain and anger He feels give way to a holy joy and courage as the Son of God imparts life to the dead. “Lazarus,” he shouts, “come out!” John 11:44 then tells us, “The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings…Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’
#4: Jesus shows us His glory
#4: Jesus shows us His glory
I had only been at my first church for a year when Cody died. Cody was just 17 years old. I knew Cody. I loved him and his family. I had talked with him about some of the things he was struggling with. And so to get the call that I got on that Monday morning in 2013, that Cody was dead, was a complete shock to me.
I remember driving over to their house after I got the news. I was praying, “Lord God, I don’t know what to say. Do I talk about your goodness or your sovereignty or the resurrection? What’s best? What do they need?” I was fresh out of seminary and I had lots of answers. Problem is I didn’t really know which ones they needed. When I got there and still didn’t know what to say, and so I said nothing, I realized that answers weren’t what they needed at all. Presence itself was enough. There comes a time when we want answers. Cody’s family had questions. But that came later. When the loss is raw and recent, it rarely helps to open your mouth.
A loss for words sums up well what most of us have felt this past week at one point or another. That’s okay. We may be at a loss for words right now, but our Savior was not at a loss for words when He did that day what He had come to do.
When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” 44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Standing before the tomb, the massive stone rolled away, I imagine Jesus composing Himself, taking a deep breath. The sorrow and pain and anger He felt have given way to a holy courage as the Son of God imparts life to the dead. “Lazarus,” he shouts, “come out!” John 11:44 then tells us, “The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings…Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”
Amazing, isn’t it? Jesus’ voice is the very power of God. Jesus is called the Word of God in the gospel of John. Jesus is the Word of God spoken at creation. That word itself was sufficient to speak worlds into existence. Jesus is the Word of God in the fullest sense, the revelation of God to us. His word not only speaks worlds into existence; it calls sinners out of darkness into light. One day, Jesus will call forth and summon the dead out of their graves and they will rise and stand before Him. What Jesus does here with Lazarus is a foretaste of that day.
But before Jesus speaks these words, something else happens. Something we’ve skipped over.
So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
Jesus says that He is about to show them the glory of God. But you can watch the resurrection of Lazarus and try to explain it other ways. “Oh, he wasn’t really dead. He just passed out and revived when Jesus yelled at him.” “Well, it was all staged. Lazarus wasn’t even sick. It was a trick to make the Jews think Jesus was someone better than He really was.” That’s why Jesus says they will see the glory of God in what He’s about to do only if they believe.
But notice this: Jesus is not merely about to show them God’s glory by believing. He also is going to strengthen their faith, by the same act. The same act of raising Lazarus from the dead simultaneously reveals the glory and power of God, and strengthens faith in Jesus.
You see, we often think there’s only one way for God to be glorified: for Him to miraculously intervene. This is what many people are seeking, primarily. Their faith is not in Christ, not really; their faith is in the miracle they expect Christ to perform. And when He doesn’t, when He has other aims in mind, they’re disappointed, often bitterly. “He failed to come through for me”. We’re seeking a Lazarus experience, but Lazarus experiences are not the norm. God can raise our loved ones from the dead; He can heal them miraculously, intervening at the last moment, and we are grateful when we see those displays of His power and glory.
But more often, rather than raising the Lazarus in our lives, God lets him die, even as He holds us and comforts us and strengthens us. We may not feel like He’s holding us. We may not sense His strength working in us. But we will look back on it and see that He was. And other people see it too. This brings glory to God, too, because as He holds us and sustains us through it, as we suffer with hope, it communicates to others that God is enough for us no matter what we may experience in this life.
Jesus sometimes allows our lives to fall apart, but He comes to us in our pain, He shares our pain, and He shows us His glory.
Conclusion and call for response
Conclusion and call for response
You see, I think Jesus is saying to us this morning what He said to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he does, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” And He’s asking us what He then asked Martha: “Do you believe this?”
You need to trust in Christ if you haven’t. Not only because you want His help in your pain and suffering, but also because you want Him. You need to trust in Christ so that you can have eternal life. Jesus is the only way to heaven; He’s the only way of escape from hell. It is not popular to say this today, but public opinion and the truth don’t always line up. And public opinion does not have the right to tell us what is true and what is not. Jesus Himself said this. Jesus Himself made the claim “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me”.
Have you trusted in this One who comes to us in our pain and shares our pain and shows us His glory? I don’t mean do you believe in Him intellectually. Belief is more than the things you believe in; it’s more than your personal opinions about God and Christ and salvation. Belief encompasses those things.
But belief is deeper; belief means you have a personal relationship with the One you believe in. Belief in Jesus means you’re relying on Jesus to save you rather than your own good works. Belief in Jesus means you’re trusting that His death on the cross was sufficient to save you from the consequences of your sin. Belief in Jesus means you’re leaning on Him to help you turn from your sin. It doesn’t mean you’re perfect. It means you’re following Him, and if you slip up and fall, it means you get up, receive His forgiveness, and start following again. That’s what it means to follow Him; that’s what it means to have a personal relationship with Him; that’s what it means to believe in Him. If you haven’t done those things, now is the time. Call upon His name; ask for His forgiveness today; ask Him to save you. The promise of Scripture is that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”.
For those of you who have trusted in Christ, the same question applies: Do you believe this? Do you believe that because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, He will meet you in your pain? The Casting Crowns song “Oh my soul” asks this question: “Can he find me here? Can he keep me from going under?” Yes, He can. And if you call out to Him, and lean on Him, He will.