“Now when Mary had come to where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell at His feet, saying to Him, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled.”
~ John 11:32-33 (ESV)
Friend, are you heartbroken today?
We all have been at one time or another; when times of sadness seem to go on forever. The good news is we’re never alone. Jesus is here. He feels our pain and He weeps, even as He comforts us.
In the eleventh chapter of John we see Lazarus of Bethany, brother to Mary and Martha, having fallen ill and died. Jesus’ compassion for the suffering of His precious friends is on full display: “When Jesus saw Mary weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled.” Two verses later in verse 35 it says, “Jesus wept.”
That’s our Savior, comforter, and forever friend. That is Jesus. He knows and feels our pain. His awareness has no limit. He knows the beginning from the end, the dawn of time until its close, a new situation until it’s resolved. Psalm 139:5 says, “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.” Out of perfect love, He left His heavenly throne, cloaking Himself in the discomfort of humanity, to rescue us from a hopeless eternity, but also to share every aspect of this life, including our grief.
In verse 32 Mary falls at Jesus’ feet, asking why He didn’t come sooner. You can imagine her deep sorrow, even anger. But before this, in verse 31, the Bible says she was “seated at home” where friends were consoling her, when she heard Jesus was near. These witnesses saw her “rise quickly and go out” to meet Him. She ran and fell at His feet with the full barrage of emotions and questions you can imagine at such a time of loss. Today, Jesus still desires to comfort us, so He patiently waits.
Run to Him, friend, not from Him. He’s waiting for us to “rise quickly and go out,” and He isn’t hard to find. The bible says “He was still in the place where [Martha] had met him,” (verse 30), indicating He’s available and locatable, but prefers we come to Him because, as a gentleman, He’s not forceful. That being said, He’ll never leave us alone or forsaken.
Jesus knows our suffering because He took the pain of the world (past, present and future) onto Himself at the cross. He knew we couldn’t bear that kind of crushing so He chose the beatings, mocking, nails and spilled blood, so our only decision would be to simply follow Him. Say yes to His comfort, His love, His forgiveness. We can claim this comfort by choice. We can “rise and go out to Him.” He will receive us and share our pain.