Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Why Jesus Wept | New Testament | John 11

Episode Date: December 15, 2023

"Jesus wept" is the shortest verse in the Bible, yet it packs a punch. Two simple words reveal much about God's love for you. In today's episode, Keith explores John 11 and shares a glimpse of the love that God has for his people. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: John 11

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Okay, so I have a story for you, and as far as I know, it's a true story. There was a pastor in Minnesota who traveled out to rural communities where they didn't have enough churches to do funerals, and the pastor had partnered with the funeral home so that he would ride out in the hearse with the undertaker. They'd do the funeral and then drive back.

Well, one time, they were on the way back from the funeral, and the pastor was exhausted. So he decided he would just take a nap. Since they were in a hearse, he thought, well, I'll just lay down in the back of the hearse. It sounds kind of like a creepy thing to do, but, you know, okay, if you want to do that, pastor, you can. Well, the undertaker was driving the hearse, and he pulled into a service station to fill up on gas. This was back in the days when there were gas attendants who would come out and fill up your

tank for you. So the service station attendance filling up the tank of the hearse, and he's kind of freaked out because there's this dead body stretched out in the back of the car. While the attendant is filling the tank, the pastor woke up, he sat up, he knocked on the window, and waved at the attendant. He said he never saw anybody run so fast in his whole life. When people find life where they were expecting only death, they freak out. When people saw Lazarus walk out of the tomb after being dead for four days, you might say

they freaked out. There were some different responses to Lazarus coming out of that tomb. You'll notice that one of the responses wasn't that they denied what happened, right? No one disputed that Lazarus had been raised, as shocking as that was. John 12 says, the chief priest made plans to kill Lazarus as well. For an account of him, many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing him. In other words, after seeing Lazarus' faiths from the dead, a lot of people were believing in Jesus, so they thought they would kill Lazarus.

And to that, I just say, sin must be able to make you really, really stupid. Because if you kill him, can't Jesus just raise him again? John 11 says, therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him. From that day on, they plotted to take his life. See, the religious leaders, they felt threatened by the popularity and power of Jesus. So not only did they want to kill Lazarus, but they wanted to kill Jesus too. But let's start back at the beginning of the chapter. John 11, verse 1. Now, a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village, of Mary and her sister Martha. So the sisters sent word to Jesus. Lord, the one you love is sick.

This was a family who loved Jesus. As soon as trouble came, they immediately knew that the best thing they could do was to take it to Jesus. We can do the same thing through prayer. So I think it's fair to ask, is that true of you and your family? When trouble comes, do you take your needs to Jesus, whether they are big or small, not just as an individual, but as a whole family? If you have trouble, right now. Make sure you take it to Jesus. Verse four. When he heard this, Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God so that God's son may be glorified through it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Do you know all the New Testament? It never says that Jesus loved individuals other than these three. Sure, it says that he loved the world,

but this is the only time it says that Jesus loved people, by name. That's what makes the next verse so strange. Here's verse six. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Because Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, he stayed two days longer. Because Jesus loved them, he didn't run to them when he heard the tragic news that Lazarus was sick. Because Jesus loved them, he let Lazarus die, and he let Mary and Martha experience the pain that comes when someone close to you dies way too young. John Piper says, that's a strange kind of love. And I agree.

It almost makes you wonder if Jesus really loved them. At a minimum, his love is different than our love, right? Because according to the way we think of love, Jesus should have run to this family's side and done whatever he could to keep them from pain and suffering. That's what we expect him to do to prove that he really loves us. I mean, if Jesus was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, we reasoned that the loving thing to do would have been to not let him die in the first place. And that's because we've kind of given in to our culture's definition, which is that love is doing whatever you can do to make another person happy, to make their life pain free, trouble free. But that's not the way Jesus thinks about love.

When Jesus finds out that Lazarus is sick, he doesn't do what we'd expect. He doesn't run to his aid. In fact, he stays away. Now, why would love cause Jesus to stay away? Well, I think the Bible says it was loving for Jesus to stay away because Jesus had something better to give Lazarus than physical life. And he had something better to give Mary and Martha than a life without sadness and disappointment and hardship. And Jesus has something better to give you too. What he wants to give you is better than a pain-free, trouble-free life that never deals with disappointment. Jesus has something better to give us than a life that always turns out the way we want. And that better thing is his glory. See, what Jesus wants us to see is God's beauty and God's power and God's majesty. Jesus wants us to know that when we depend on him and trust to him

and love him, that's what we were created for. That that's far better than things in our life turning out the way we want. Maybe you're wondering what in the world Jesus is doing with your life. Maybe you've been praying, but there's been no answer. Maybe there are things that have concerned you over many years, but there's no resolution to them. Maybe you've been waiting and nothing seems to be happening. Maybe God loves you so much that he refuses to rescue you because he has something better for you. And that is to see and know him. Verse 21, Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that even now God will give you whatever you asked. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. And Martha answered, I know he will rise again

in the resurrection of the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? See, Martha tells Jesus that he came too late. And Jesus replies by claiming to be the resurrection in the life. He's correcting her bad theology with truth. Jesus, is never early and he's never late, but Jesus is always right on time. As Tim Keller says, there is no one like Jesus. No one says things like he does. No religious leaders claim to rule over death. Not Muhammad, not Buddha, not Confucius, not any of them. I'm not saying that they aren't the resurrection in the life. I'm saying they never even claim to be. There's no one like

Jesus. So Martha goes back and tells Mary that Jesus has arrived and Mary runs out to see him. And when she gets to him, she says, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. So that's the same thing that Martha said, right? So what will Jesus say? Will he say the same thing to her that he said to her sister? Will he say, I am the resurrection in the life? No. Instead, when Jesus sees her weeping, he begins to weep. And he asks, where have you later? Come and see, Lord, they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, see how he loved him. Now, Mary says the exact same thing Martha does, But Jesus' response is completely different. He doesn't correct her theology, but instead he weeps along with her.

And Jesus speaks truth to Martha. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. There's no need to despair or lose hope. And Jesus weeps with Mary. He identifies with her grief. Do you think Jesus is so distant from you that he doesn't know what you're going through? What if you thought for a moment that Jesus is weeping with you? If you're weeping over loneliness or infertility or anxiety or fear or cancer or disappointment,

or failure? Well, here's two little words for you, two powerful words, two words that help you know that Jesus loves you. And here they are, Jesus wept. Those are the two words. He weeps with you. He cares about you. He's in your pain with you. Verse 38 says, Jesus was deeply moved when he came to Lazarus's tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. That word deeply moved is something like snorting or bellowing or at rage or roaring or angry. Jesus is raging against death. He doesn't say, hey, look, get used to it, everybody. This is the way the world works. He doesn't say that at all. Now, it's true that everyone dies. In that sense, we all have a terminal illness, but Jesus doesn't tell us to get used to it. Instead, he looks at our greatest nightmare, the loss of life, the loss of

loved one, and he is angry. What does it tell us? It tells us that it tells us that he evil and death are the result of sin that's not part of God's original design. Maybe you ask, well, if it's not a part of his design, then why doesn't he just stop it? Why do we have to endure it? Well, think about this for a second. Where does sin and suffering evil come from? It comes from us, doesn't it? So much of the misery of life here is due to our selfishness and pride and cruelty, anger, oppression, war, violence. If Jesus came to wipe out evil, he'd have to wipe out us. Tim Keller says, Jesus did not come with a sword in his hands, but he came with nails in his hands. He did not come to bring judgment. He came to bear judgment. Jesus knew that if he raised Lazarus from the dead,

the religious establishment would try to kill him. And so he knew the only way to raise Lazarus out of the grave was to put himself into the grave. He knew that the only way for us to experience a resurrection was for him to experience a crucifixion. Jesus died so that we can live. Remember that question that Jesus asked Martha and Mary? He looked at them and said, said, do you believe? Do you believe I'm the resurrection? Do you believe I have victory over death? Do you believe I can give you life? Abundant life? Eternal life. I think that's the question he would ask us today. Put your hope in Jesus. He will never fail you.