“Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’” – John 11:44b
Back in October, I had the privilege of bringing a KBC report and sermon at the Red River Association Annual Meeting in Stanton, KY. This was a blessed time of worship and fellowship with faithful saints throughout that Association.
As I was thinking and mediating on possible passages upon which to preach in the weeks prior, I recall sitting in my home church one Sunday and being drawn to instances where Jesus experienced sorrow. I grabbed the Bible, snagged my wife’s pen and a piece of paper from her notebook, and started looking at a few passages where we see Jesus express sorrow. It did not take long for me to land on the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. I’ve always, humorously, wanted to focus a passage on the short verse, “Jesus wept,” but truly this verse within the larger context of the passage gives us a glimpse into the humanity of Jesus, especially as he expresses a spirit of mourning and sorrow.
We see in this account that Jesus has a love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He loved them with a sacrificial, demonstrative love shown by the fact that He is willing to go back to Judea, the place where we understand attempts had been made to stone him. We also see that Jesus was, “deeply moved in spirit and greatly troubled,” by the mourning of those closest to Lazarus. We then know that Jesus Himself wept over the death of Lazarus and the sorrow experienced by others. Jesus experienced sorrow.
As I had narrowed this passage down as the focal point of my sermon for Red River Association, one morning as I was driving my children to school, I turned the “Jesus music” (as my kids call it) down and I asked my oldest daughter, Hannah, if she knew the story of Lazarus. Hannah is 9 yrs old (9 and a half if you ask her 😊) and she said, “Yes!” I then asked her to tell me about it. She started to share with me the setting, the characters, what happened, she even talked about the different reactions of Mary and Martha, and then she offered up something that has stuck with me and really set the foundation for my message at Red River Association, as well as something I want to remind us of today. Hannah said, “It’s an important story because God can do miracles.”
Yes! What a profound truth to be reminded of regularly that God can indeed and does miraculous things. My hope is to encourage you with five quick observations from the story of Lazarus (John 11:1-44) being raised from the dead that I shared at the Red River Association:
- Jesus’ timing was perfect (v.6)
- Jesus was gracious with questions/doubts (vs. 21, 32, 37, and 39)
- Jesus empathized with sorrow and suffering (vs. 33-35, 38)
- Jesus, calling upon the Father, can do miraculous things (vs. 43-44)
- The gospel call is truly a walking from death unto life (v. 44)
No matter what season of life we may find ourselves in, whether in the midst of the valley or on the mountaintop, it is a great truth that we can trust in the goodness and graciousness of our Father and that He can, in fact, do miracles.
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