WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.899 Well, good morning, Valley View. 00:00:02.899 --> 00:00:04.400 It's great to be with you Today. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:09.099 I received an article this week from my personal research assistant, Dick Clark. 00:00:09.099 --> 00:00:11.000 He's one of our members here. 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:12.099 It's not a paid position. 00:00:12.099 --> 00:00:13.233 Don't worry, Dick. 00:00:13.233 --> 00:00:15.066 Especially take note of that. 00:00:15.066 --> 00:00:20.632 But he sends me information from time to time that I'm able to utilize, and it helps keep me sharp. 00:00:20.632 --> 00:00:24.733 And one of the stories I got this week was of a guy, construction worker. 00:00:24.733 --> 00:00:26.500 He was at work on a construction site. 00:00:26.500 --> 00:00:28.300 Somehow they didn't share all the details. 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:31.600 He ended up with a six inch nail through his boot. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:34.000 Bad situation to be in, of course. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:38.399 He's in just agony, you know, tears, pain, difficulties. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:41.799 So they get him, rush him to the emergency room, get him there. 00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:51.899 They immediately start giving him pain medication to help calm him down, get him under control so they can work on his foot, get him calmed down, and they start cutting away the boot. 00:00:51.899 --> 00:00:56.765 And lo and behold, the nail never passed through his foot. 00:00:56.765 --> 00:01:00.899 It went between two of his toes. 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:10.799 Now, the author of this article made the observation that a lot of times in life our responses are determined by our expectation. 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:19.233 That's what we think will happen is what inevitably we convince ourself has happened. 00:01:19.233 --> 00:01:21.766 And we've been working through the book and John together. 00:01:21.766 --> 00:01:23.400 We're in John Chapter 11 today. 00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:25.566 In fact, we're going to be on page 844. 00:01:25.566 --> 00:01:29.332 If you have one of our church Bibles, we have those in the connection corner. 00:01:29.332 --> 00:01:32.099 Grab one any time. 00:01:32.099 --> 00:01:33.865 But we've been working through the book of John. 00:01:33.865 --> 00:01:42.733 And today, as we continue in the story of Lazarus and Chapter 11, we're going to see four different people and their responses to Jesus's delay. 00:01:42.733 --> 00:01:46.533 Last week, we looked at the story of Jesus Lazarus. 00:01:46.533 --> 00:01:47.665 It's not going to turn out well for him. 00:01:47.665 --> 00:01:48.566 Are you going to go? 00:01:48.566 --> 00:01:49.066 I'm going to wait. 00:01:50.099 --> 00:01:51.865 Well, how did people respond to him? 00:01:51.865 --> 00:01:54.933 Some of that is determined by their expectations about Jesus. 00:01:54.933 --> 00:02:01.933 And we're going to see four different people and how they encounter Jesus, how they respond to him and how that relates to their expectations. 00:02:01.933 --> 00:02:10.532 So turn to John, Chapter 11, and we're going to start with verse 17 through 19 to get our setting, to get the bearings here for the passage. 00:02:10.532 --> 00:02:11.466 Look at verse 17. 00:02:11.466 --> 00:02:19.332 Now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 00:02:19.332 --> 00:02:28.133 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 00:02:28.133 --> 00:02:37.300 So the first bit of detail we get here for the setting is that Lazarus has been dead for days, and that means he's not just a little dead, he's really dead. 00:02:37.300 --> 00:02:39.133 He's not coming back at this point. 00:02:39.133 --> 00:02:42.133 All hope is gone from anyone there. 00:02:42.133 --> 00:02:47.733 And we also it also mentions that the number of the Jews had come to console Mary and Martha. 00:02:47.733 --> 00:02:49.199 That points to a couple of different things. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:58.032 One, they weren't very far from Jerusalem, but also if people were going to take the time to come from Jerusalem to visit with them, they probably had some standing, some prominence in the culture. 00:02:58.032 --> 00:03:00.000 Otherwise, why would you go? 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:19.800 We also get some hints, too, just in some of the cultural practice here and some of the sample and just for more historical documents in terms of how we know they approached morning in this age, it was tradition that you would bury the person who died the same day they passed because they didn't have a lot of the same techniques we use now to preserve bodies. 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:23.966 And in the warmer climate, bodies would start to deteriorate very rapidly. 00:03:23.966 --> 00:03:25.733 So we had to get them in the ground quick. 00:03:25.733 --> 00:03:31.300 But then there would be a period of six days of mourning and they would do a couple of different things. 00:03:31.300 --> 00:03:42.699 One is tradition required that you would hire at least two flute players to play all your morning dirges, which I guess flutes are especially adept at that don't have anything against flutes if you're a flute player. 00:03:42.699 --> 00:03:44.332 But that was part of the practice. 00:03:44.332 --> 00:03:51.500 Also, you would hire a professional wailing woman, at least one to be there as a part of the whole experience of mourning. 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:57.900 So it ended up being very different than how we experienced funerals. 00:03:57.900 --> 00:04:04.633 When I go to a funeral home, no matter how many people are there, it's very quiet, It's very reserved. 00:04:04.633 --> 00:04:09.233 Soft music, settling, calming music, playing in the background. 00:04:09.233 --> 00:04:13.066 Maybe if anyone is crying, it's under control. 00:04:13.066 --> 00:04:15.500 We're going to keep it calm for the most part. 00:04:15.500 --> 00:04:18.399 In general, that's kind of more of our cultural experience. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:22.199 This would have been as far the opposite from that as possible. 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:27.500 Let me show how much I cared about this person I love How loud I am. 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:34.800 By the more wailing we have, the more chaos almost in terms of let's just put it all out there. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.565 Very different from how we experience it. 00:04:37.565 --> 00:04:40.266 It'd be quite the experience at this time. 00:04:40.266 --> 00:04:41.565 And so here they are. 00:04:41.565 --> 00:04:43.600 They're mourning there in Bethany. 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:45.565 Many Jews are there to console them. 00:04:46.565 --> 00:04:53.733 But then now Jesus begins to enter the scene and we get the first interaction with the first of the four that we're going to see here. 00:04:53.733 --> 00:04:56.733 Responses to Jesus's DeLay. 00:04:57.333 --> 00:04:58.333 And this happens with Martha. 00:04:58.333 --> 00:05:01.333 Let's look at Martha verse 20. 00:05:01.333 --> 00:05:09.165 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 00:05:09.165 --> 00:05:15.565 Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 00:05:15.565 --> 00:05:21.466 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. 00:05:21.466 --> 00:05:26.399 So our first person that responds to Jesus is DeLay is Martha. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:28.533 And notice her. 00:05:28.533 --> 00:05:29.233 What happens here. 00:05:29.233 --> 00:05:30.632 There's one couple of different things. 00:05:30.632 --> 00:05:34.533 One is the contrast between Martha and Mary. 00:05:34.533 --> 00:05:39.266 They come and report that Jesus is on the outside of town or nearby waiting. 00:05:39.266 --> 00:05:43.132 Martha goes and it says very clearly, Mary stayed seated. 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:52.000 And I'm reading between the lines here, some based on some of our other interactions we know about Martha and Mary and their interactions with Jesus in particular. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:57.333 It seems like Martha in particular is our our doer. 00:05:57.333 --> 00:06:03.800 In fact, the word I'm going to give each of these responses one word to sum up this person and their response. 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:09.065 With Martha, it's the word direct and she's the one she's I'm going to go right ahead. 00:06:09.065 --> 00:06:10.632 I'm going to be the problem solver. 00:06:10.632 --> 00:06:18.800 I'm going to go ahead of my sister and interact with Jesus before she has to figure out how we should relate to him. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:25.100 She's the one who back in Luke ten, we saw that Jesus said, Martha, Martha, you're busy and bothered with so many things. 00:06:25.100 --> 00:06:27.932 While Mary's chosen, the better to sit at my feet. 00:06:27.932 --> 00:06:32.233 You know, she's the one in the kitchen making sure everything's prepared and making sure everyone's fed. 00:06:32.233 --> 00:06:38.399 She was clearly Baptist and would likely serve on Wednesday night suppers to help with meals. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:41.399 Whenever those come along, Martha would be there. 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:42.333 She's the doer. 00:06:42.333 --> 00:06:47.065 In fact, I think people tend to lean one way or the other. 00:06:47.065 --> 00:06:51.432 People tend to be do first, then think about it later or think first, then do later. 00:06:51.432 --> 00:06:55.233 I don't know which way you fall personally, but let's just see your hands. 00:06:55.233 --> 00:06:57.632 If you're the if something needs to be done, I'm going after it. 00:06:57.632 --> 00:06:59.300 We'll figure out what it means later. 00:06:59.300 --> 00:07:00.699 Who's the doers in the room? 00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:01.100 Let me see. 00:07:01.100 --> 00:07:03.000 Is your hands okay? 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:08.132 You're the ones who caused all the trouble in the world. By the way, I've hinted at where I might fall. 00:07:08.132 --> 00:07:08.932 Then we have our. 00:07:08.932 --> 00:07:10.132 You know what? 00:07:10.132 --> 00:07:13.733 I've got to think about it for as long as it takes before I can take any action. 00:07:13.733 --> 00:07:18.132 I've been thinking about it since 1989, and I'm getting close to coming up with a plan. 00:07:18.132 --> 00:07:19.632 Who are my thinkers out here? 00:07:19.632 --> 00:07:21.800 My overthinker sometimes right? 00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:23.199 Yeah. Okay. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:25.233 We're the ones that make sure things are done right. 00:07:25.233 --> 00:07:32.266 Okay, So look, it's not right or wrong mostly, but we're wired differently towards that regard. 00:07:32.266 --> 00:07:34.500 And here we have Martha. 00:07:34.500 --> 00:07:36.199 She's like, I'm going first. 00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:36.632 Mary. 00:07:36.632 --> 00:07:38.833 She doesn't move. I'm going. 00:07:38.833 --> 00:07:40.365 I'm the direct one. 00:07:40.365 --> 00:07:42.132 And notice what she says to Jesus. 00:07:42.132 --> 00:07:51.165 The first first words she says to him, Lord, if if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:56.632 Now there's debate about her tone in that. 00:07:56.665 --> 00:07:58.865 Was that disrespectful? 00:07:58.865 --> 00:08:02.065 Was it a mild kind of subtle rebuke? 00:08:02.065 --> 00:08:04.533 Was it disappointment? 00:08:04.533 --> 00:08:06.065 Was it a statement of faith? 00:08:06.065 --> 00:08:08.100 There's different ways to take that we weren't there. 00:08:08.100 --> 00:08:10.300 We can't know exactly how she said it. 00:08:10.300 --> 00:08:18.733 One thing's for sure, it's it's not the first word you would expect to say to someone who traveled many miles to help you in your grief. 00:08:18.733 --> 00:08:21.132 Hey, why weren't you here sooner? 00:08:21.132 --> 00:08:22.266 It's kind of direct. 00:08:22.266 --> 00:08:26.033 Going back to her personality, you might expect a little bit of. 00:08:26.033 --> 00:08:26.733 You know what? 00:08:26.733 --> 00:08:28.733 Thank you for making the trip. 00:08:28.733 --> 00:08:29.600 Thank you for coming. 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:30.899 I'm so grateful you're here. 00:08:30.899 --> 00:08:32.966 I know that Lazarus meant a lot to you, too. 00:08:32.966 --> 00:08:35.166 How are you doing? 00:08:35.166 --> 00:08:37.265 But no, she was right to. 00:08:37.265 --> 00:08:38.365 Why weren't you here? 00:08:39.700 --> 00:08:40.600 Where were you? 00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:43.133 Lord? 00:08:43.133 --> 00:08:47.265 Which a lot of us can relate to in times of difficulty. 00:08:47.500 --> 00:08:50.365 That's going to be our initial response. 00:08:50.365 --> 00:08:51.865 Where were you? 00:08:51.865 --> 00:08:55.832 I might look past all the great things you have done in the moment. 00:08:55.832 --> 00:09:00.265 Where where were you? 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:05.500 So she's direct in the moment, but Jesus isn't surprised by that. 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:12.533 In fact, in the midst of her grieving or rebuking or whatever, she also makes a theological statement. 00:09:12.533 --> 00:09:14.966 Look back at verse 22. 00:09:14.966 --> 00:09:30.033 Even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you in the midst of her questioning, in the midst of whatever was going on, she still is going to proclaim truth and Jesus engages with her on this. 00:09:30.033 --> 00:09:39.500 And even though she's direct with him and even though sometimes the ways we're going to see the way he responds might come across like that's not the way I would do it. 00:09:39.500 --> 00:09:41.200 He knows who he's interacting with. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:44.200 Look at how he responds. 00:09:44.265 --> 00:09:50.966 Verse 23 Jesus says to her, Your brother will rise again. 00:09:50.966 --> 00:09:54.566 Martha said to him, I know, I know that he will rise in the resurrection. 00:09:54.566 --> 00:09:59.666 On the last day, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. 00:09:59.666 --> 00:10:09.765 Whoever believes in me, though He die yet shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. 00:10:09.765 --> 00:10:12.765 Do you believe this? 00:10:12.865 --> 00:10:19.500 She said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who is coming into the world. 00:10:19.832 --> 00:10:33.966 So Jesus, if her response to him seem a little bit rude and uncaring, Jesus's response, I have to tell you, would be rude in our culture for me to show up at a funeral. 00:10:33.966 --> 00:10:36.600 And the first words I say, You know what? 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:37.232 It's okay. 00:10:37.232 --> 00:10:38.432 He's going to rise again. 00:10:38.432 --> 00:10:41.566 God's going to get the glory through this. 00:10:41.566 --> 00:10:53.365 That that wouldn't be the first thing I would say, even though I deeply believe it to be true and the person I'm talking to, if they're Christian, does as well, it's still it's it's too soon. 00:10:53.365 --> 00:10:56.566 It's not the right timing for that. 00:10:56.566 --> 00:10:58.932 But again, Jesus knows Martha. 00:10:58.932 --> 00:11:00.200 He knows who she is. 00:11:00.200 --> 00:11:04.533 He knows these are the words she needs to hear in this moment. 00:11:04.533 --> 00:11:08.299 And so he says to her, Your brother or wise again, she says, I know he will. 00:11:08.299 --> 00:11:11.100 And her response is perfect in that moment. 00:11:12.332 --> 00:11:16.166 But what begins to happen here is what we're seeing in the Book of John all throughout. 00:11:16.166 --> 00:11:18.432 We've seen this over and over again. 00:11:18.432 --> 00:11:22.432 Jesus is talking about one thing and the listener here's another. 00:11:22.432 --> 00:11:29.166 And there's maybe a little bit of confusion about which is meant to that person and maybe it can be taken both ways. 00:11:29.166 --> 00:11:29.899 We see that here. 00:11:29.899 --> 00:11:38.832 And so he gives clarification by giving one of the I am statements we've seen in the book of John seven key AM statements. 00:11:38.832 --> 00:11:41.633 This is number five of seven. 00:11:41.633 --> 00:11:44.265 He says I am the resurrection in the life. 00:11:44.265 --> 00:11:54.533 Verse 25, I am the resurrect in the life two words and both can be taking to different ways in the moment. 00:11:54.533 --> 00:11:58.200 Both are pointing to the physical reality, but also to a higher spiritual. 00:11:58.200 --> 00:12:01.399 He He unpacks both of those words when to look at those in two parts. 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:03.799 First, the word resurrection. 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:09.865 Look at verse 25, the latter part of verse 25 on the resurrection in the life. 00:12:09.865 --> 00:12:20.066 Whoever believes in me, though he die yet shall he live two meanings to this reality of resurrection he's pointing to? 00:12:20.066 --> 00:12:20.865 Yes, you're right. 00:12:20.865 --> 00:12:24.700 He will rise again in the greater resurrection. 00:12:24.700 --> 00:12:31.000 But also she doesn't know what's about to happen is that he is literally about to rise again in that moment. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:34.832 She doesn't know yet that he's speaking to both realities with the resurrection. 00:12:34.832 --> 00:12:46.332 Now, with the life, look at how he addresses with verse 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. 00:12:49.066 --> 00:12:52.500 And the reality of this for Christians is there's two dynamics going on. 00:12:52.500 --> 00:12:58.432 Lazarus has physically died, but he's more alive than he's ever been. 00:12:58.432 --> 00:13:03.332 He is truly alive for the first time ever. 00:13:03.365 --> 00:13:10.533 And as Christians, even though we're grieving in the moment of loss, we can hang on to that truth, that great truth. 00:13:10.533 --> 00:13:19.432 And we can all now as we live, know that even though this is life, it's not life at its fullest. 00:13:19.432 --> 00:13:23.299 And there will be a day when we have life in its fullest. 00:13:23.299 --> 00:13:52.000 In fact, one commentator said it this way It's not just the degree of life he's talking about when he says in verse 26 shall never die, not just the degree of life or amount of life, meaning it's not just that you get a few more years in eternal life, but life of a different kind, a different life altogether, which anyone who knows Christ. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:57.932 You know this when you think of your life, you think back to what life was like before him. 00:13:57.932 --> 00:14:06.200 And when I think back about my life, when I even kind of watch myself as a movie, in my mind, it's like, who was that guy? 00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:07.133 Was that life? 00:14:07.133 --> 00:14:10.000 It's a completely different person. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:12.500 It just feels like a whole new chapter ended. 00:14:12.500 --> 00:14:15.200 A whole new person began. 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:23.066 Some of those habits and characteristics crossed over that not always happy about, but you can look back and see that's a different that's a different life. 00:14:23.066 --> 00:14:26.832 This new life is an altogether different life. 00:14:26.832 --> 00:14:27.500 That's true. 00:14:27.500 --> 00:14:30.466 And the age to come and it's true now as well at both levels. 00:14:30.466 --> 00:14:38.200 And Jesus is speaking to both of this when he speaks to Martha, and then he asks her a question. 00:14:38.200 --> 00:15:01.000 Looking back at verse 27, at the end of verse 26, do you believe she said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you're the Christ, the Son of God who is coming into the world again, even in the midst of her disappointment, even in the midst of the grief, even in the midst of the confusion or whatever all was going on with her, she still speaks truth. 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:09.799 She still speaks the truth of who she knows Jesus to be in that moment, which is a powerful example. 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:16.432 She doesn't even fully know who he is, but she's speaking truth of who he is. 00:15:16.432 --> 00:15:17.932 She's the direct one. 00:15:17.932 --> 00:15:18.732 She's the doer. 00:15:18.732 --> 00:15:20.765 She goes and paves the way for her sister. 00:15:20.765 --> 00:15:22.133 So that's Martha. 00:15:22.133 --> 00:15:30.765 Now let's look at our second person who he interacts with, who has been expecting him to come, who has expectations about him. 00:15:30.765 --> 00:15:31.533 That's going to be Mary. 00:15:31.533 --> 00:15:45.832 Let's look at this next set of verses here, verse 28 through 32, when she had said this, she went called her sister Mary, saying in private, the teacher is here and is calling for you. 00:15:45.832 --> 00:15:48.133 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 00:15:48.133 --> 00:15:51.332 Now, Jesus had not yet come into the village. 00:15:51.332 --> 00:15:54.899 He was still in the place where Martha had met him. 00:15:54.899 --> 00:16:00.399 And when the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out. 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:01.765 They followed her. 00:16:01.765 --> 00:16:05.265 Supposing that she was going to the tune to weep there. 00:16:05.265 --> 00:16:07.832 Now Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him. 00:16:07.832 --> 00:16:13.133 She fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, this verse is very familiar. 00:16:13.133 --> 00:16:22.066 We've already heard this line, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 00:16:23.133 --> 00:16:24.566 We get this contrast again. 00:16:24.566 --> 00:16:32.000 The reminder that at first when Jesus came toward them, it was Martha who went first and Mary didn't. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:33.566 She stayed. 00:16:33.566 --> 00:16:40.799 But then she goes and she goes in this moment and it's so abrupt that everyone notices. 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:54.033 And if you were in a funeral home and suddenly the main family member who was caring for everything, the family member closest to the one who passed, if they suddenly got up and ran out, everyone would take notice. 00:16:54.033 --> 00:16:56.365 They would wonder what's going wrong? 00:16:56.365 --> 00:16:57.533 What's happening? 00:16:57.533 --> 00:16:58.700 She must need help. 00:16:58.700 --> 00:17:00.500 We must need to come alongside her. 00:17:00.500 --> 00:17:01.633 And so that's what happens. 00:17:01.633 --> 00:17:13.665 All the Jews who were there with her, consoling her, run out with her, part of that may have been, well, we've got to be alongside her to keep all the public display, the display of weeping and mourning going, but can't let her go off without us. 00:17:13.665 --> 00:17:17.599 We're pretty important to this whole process, which culturally would have been true. 00:17:18.633 --> 00:17:23.099 Part of it may just have been a curiosity of wondering where she could go into. 00:17:23.099 --> 00:17:27.365 It doesn't seem that they really announced, Hey, I'm going to meet Jesus, y'all take care while I'm gone. 00:17:27.365 --> 00:17:29.633 You know, none of that really as well. 00:17:29.633 --> 00:17:32.633 She she just goes. 00:17:32.766 --> 00:17:37.032 And then when she gets to him, I love what we see here about Mary. 00:17:37.032 --> 00:17:46.799 When you see Mary in Scripture, most of the time, you see her in one particular place and it's at the feet of Jesus. 00:17:46.833 --> 00:17:50.165 I mean, what a powerful thing to be said of someone. 00:17:50.165 --> 00:17:53.099 They spent their time at the feet of Jesus. 00:17:53.099 --> 00:17:55.000 She was there washing his feet. 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:57.500 She was sitting at his feet listening. 00:17:57.500 --> 00:18:05.766 And here when she gets to him, it says she falls at his feet and she says one statement, it's the same one. 00:18:05.766 --> 00:18:09.266 Her sister said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 00:18:09.266 --> 00:18:15.365 But her posture is so different from Martha's. 00:18:15.365 --> 00:18:23.099 In fact, Mary, I think the word I would use for her in this moment is despaired, despairing. 00:18:24.333 --> 00:18:28.732 And I don't mean that as in a despair of without hope. 00:18:29.566 --> 00:18:34.566 But there's certainly a deeper angst here, a deeper pain. 00:18:34.566 --> 00:18:38.732 In fact, Jesus, he doesn't even respond directly to her. 00:18:38.732 --> 00:18:46.066 With Martha, he enters into a theological discussion, and with Mary he just lets her weep. 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:49.266 Mary Despair. 00:18:49.266 --> 00:18:52.266 Martha Direct. 00:18:53.665 --> 00:18:57.965 And now we're going to see another group that he interacts with. 00:18:57.965 --> 00:19:11.732 In fact, look at verse 33 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. 00:19:11.732 --> 00:19:16.965 So we've him interact with Martha, the direct one, Mary, the one in despair. 00:19:16.965 --> 00:19:19.066 Now we get a third audience, the Jews. 00:19:19.066 --> 00:19:30.165 And I've said all throughout the book of John often that is speaking of the Jews, not just the whole population of the Jewish world, but usually it's referring to Jewish leaders. 00:19:30.165 --> 00:19:41.000 But there are times where it's not clear, and this is one they've not been spoken of negatively yet in terms of the Pharisees, the religious leaders who think they have it all figured out. 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:43.532 Often the word Jews is synonymous with that. 00:19:43.532 --> 00:19:48.299 But here it just seems to be not totally clear. 00:19:48.299 --> 00:19:58.732 But we're going to get a glimpse here as to who they are, by the way they respond to Jesus about what they expected of Jesus and what they said. 00:19:59.833 --> 00:20:08.599 First, we noted that the Jews, where we are Jews, saw Jesus weeping, and he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:10.432 It's going to take us some time to unpack that. 00:20:10.432 --> 00:20:17.566 What was going on with Jesus in the midst of being around the Jews and them observing what he was doing, how he felt. 00:20:17.566 --> 00:20:20.133 There's a lot of debate about what this means. 00:20:20.133 --> 00:20:24.133 He was deeply moved in his spirit, greatly troubled. 00:20:24.133 --> 00:20:34.232 We're just going to talk about that phrase deeply move for a minute, because I think it's it's difficult to discern exactly what was going on, but it's way too vague of a translation. 00:20:34.232 --> 00:20:36.465 At least I'm I'm teaching from the ESV. 00:20:36.465 --> 00:20:37.633 I know there's other translations. 00:20:37.633 --> 00:20:41.633 A lot of them translated that way too deeply moved. 00:20:43.099 --> 00:20:58.099 The interesting thing of that word is originally when it was first used, it was used of animals, not humans specifically of horses, and how they flare their nose in anger and rear up in anger. 00:20:58.665 --> 00:21:02.900 And then it shifted to be used of humans in particular as well. 00:21:02.900 --> 00:21:08.165 And when used used of humans that often carried still carried the desire of anger. 00:21:08.165 --> 00:21:18.266 And it also carried and you see this with Jesus in other places of of scolding or rebuke and so greatly troubled in his spirit. 00:21:18.266 --> 00:21:24.532 When I read that in English, I tend to think, well, that's something that was stirring deep inside him. 00:21:24.532 --> 00:21:32.365 But the meaning of that word there was also a very outward element that involved anger. 00:21:32.365 --> 00:21:34.333 We can't avoid that, that reality. 00:21:34.333 --> 00:21:43.432 In fact, a couple of different guys translated this as outraged Jesus, outraged about what he saw. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:48.032 And of course, if Jesus is outraged, it's perfect outrage. 00:21:48.032 --> 00:21:53.500 It's not human outrage and anger, which is often full of sin. 00:21:54.032 --> 00:21:55.766 So what was he outraged about? 00:21:55.766 --> 00:21:58.066 I ran across a bunch of different options. 00:21:58.066 --> 00:22:04.865 Let me just share with you the top four that I saw of things that he may have been outraged about, things that deeply moved him. 00:22:04.865 --> 00:22:09.299 Number one, grief. 00:22:09.299 --> 00:22:16.232 It may have been that he saw the grief of Mary and the Jews and you identified with their grief. 00:22:16.232 --> 00:22:23.400 He was deeply stirred in because of their grief and he felt their grief as well. 00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:28.665 Number two, he may have just been upset by the display of their grief. 00:22:28.665 --> 00:22:34.599 And what I mean by that is the over-the-top display, this show they made over their grief. 00:22:35.732 --> 00:22:38.133 I could really just be a turn off of going. 00:22:38.133 --> 00:22:40.333 You guys are totally missing it. 00:22:40.333 --> 00:22:41.833 You're making a bigger deal out of this. 00:22:41.833 --> 00:22:44.500 You're trying to make it all about you. 00:22:44.500 --> 00:22:46.965 He could have been reacting to that. 00:22:46.965 --> 00:22:51.566 Number three, he could have been angry at death and soon. 00:22:51.566 --> 00:22:55.599 I mean, here we have it's not supposed to be this way. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:58.200 Death was not a part of the original plan. 00:22:58.200 --> 00:23:01.599 Death was brought about by sin. 00:23:01.833 --> 00:23:09.566 And it could have been the anger, the outrage toward that reality. 00:23:09.566 --> 00:23:18.000 And then number four, unbelief, Unbelief all around him. 00:23:18.566 --> 00:23:36.266 And there could have been anger and outrage at the reality of here you have Jesus himself standing before them, the one who will conquer sin and death, standing there, and there's all this overwhelming, over-the-top grief. 00:23:37.133 --> 00:23:39.900 Which of those four was it? 00:23:39.900 --> 00:23:48.432 Let's look first at how the Jews respond to get a hint, a better idea of which one of those four we might lean toward. 00:23:48.432 --> 00:23:55.400 So when they saw him deeply moved in his spirit, he said to them, verse 34, Where have you laid him? 00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:58.532 They said, Lord, come and see. 00:23:58.532 --> 00:24:00.833 And Jesus wept. 00:24:00.833 --> 00:24:03.633 So the Jews said, See how he loved him. 00:24:03.633 --> 00:24:10.465 But some of this said, Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man, also have kept this man from dying. 00:24:10.465 --> 00:24:14.799 And what I want you to see before we unpack the section is just that last phrase. 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:16.133 They say the same thing. 00:24:16.133 --> 00:24:18.865 Mary, Martha, the Jews, all three. 00:24:18.865 --> 00:24:20.566 Their responses are basically the same. 00:24:20.566 --> 00:24:30.165 This guy could have done something about it in the words, but we know that their response, that was part of the crowd. 00:24:30.165 --> 00:24:32.266 He could have done something. 00:24:32.266 --> 00:24:35.732 Another part of the crowd said, Look how moved he was. 00:24:35.732 --> 00:24:44.732 He must have loved him because it says in verse 35, probably the second most famous verse in the Bible. 00:24:44.732 --> 00:24:54.099 All of our Bible memory experts out there run to verse 35 when they need a quick verse to say, Yeah, I memorized Bible verse today. 00:24:54.099 --> 00:24:56.299 Jesus wept. 00:24:56.299 --> 00:24:58.833 It's well, well-known for that. 00:24:58.833 --> 00:25:00.266 What does that mean? 00:25:00.266 --> 00:25:07.032 It's certainly appropriate to weep at a funeral at the death of a loved one. 00:25:08.299 --> 00:25:16.066 I remember when I drove back here in a rush to be at the funeral of a a girl I grew up with here in the church. 00:25:16.066 --> 00:25:26.432 Her dad had meant a lot to me, her dad and another man, Phil King, Jim, Jim meant so much to me. 00:25:27.633 --> 00:25:31.766 We'll just call him Jim Clark. Thank you. 00:25:31.766 --> 00:25:39.365 My other research assistant, Phil and Jim, now feel like I've destroyed this sweet moment of talking about weeping. 00:25:39.365 --> 00:25:41.200 Okay, Phil and Jim. 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:42.700 Phil had meant a lot to me. 00:25:42.700 --> 00:25:43.400 Jim as well. 00:25:43.400 --> 00:25:46.732 Jim had passed the year before, and I didn't make it up for his funeral. 00:25:46.732 --> 00:25:48.532 I was in Little Rock 8 hours away. 00:25:48.532 --> 00:25:52.165 Some lame reason. You know, you can always find a reason. 00:25:52.165 --> 00:25:52.732 There's a lot. 00:25:52.732 --> 00:25:56.900 Everyone has a ton on their plate, and I regret it after that. 00:25:56.900 --> 00:25:58.232 I didn't come. 00:25:58.232 --> 00:25:59.599 I wasn't going to miss her funeral. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:02.299 I came for it and it was difficult. 00:26:02.299 --> 00:26:03.099 She was 36. 00:26:03.099 --> 00:26:04.299 She had died of brain cancer. 00:26:04.299 --> 00:26:09.932 We the same age that was difficult to sit through, but I was fine through the funeral. 00:26:09.932 --> 00:26:18.732 But at the end and it was here in the church, they played a slideshow of her life on the screen and that just was too much. 00:26:18.932 --> 00:26:25.099 They hit me so hard because it was just all the realities of pictures of moments when I knew her. 00:26:25.099 --> 00:26:27.932 We grew up together, and you. 00:26:27.932 --> 00:26:29.299 Oh, this didn't make any sense. 00:26:29.299 --> 00:26:30.865 Why did this happen? 00:26:30.865 --> 00:26:32.865 I mean, I had to leave the room and I. 00:26:32.865 --> 00:26:34.932 I went looking for a room as soon as I could. Just. 00:26:34.932 --> 00:26:37.133 I needed a place to cry alone. 00:26:37.133 --> 00:26:42.799 I go down the hall from the first open door occurred, and lo and behold, it's the crab room, all right? 00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:44.500 It's where all the little babies go to cry. 00:26:44.500 --> 00:26:47.465 And that's how I cried for it seemed like forever. 00:26:47.465 --> 00:26:49.400 Just wept and wept. 00:26:49.400 --> 00:26:50.500 And I couldn't. 00:26:50.500 --> 00:26:53.665 I tried to stop it and couldn't over and over again. 00:26:53.665 --> 00:26:57.232 Some of you have been there in that moment of just weeping. 00:26:58.465 --> 00:27:00.932 Interesting thing about this word, weeping. 00:27:00.932 --> 00:27:06.400 It's different than the words used of the professional criers in that moment. 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:10.066 It's more of a tender weeping, a sincere weeping. 00:27:10.066 --> 00:27:16.365 And their response to seeing this in that moment, he must have really loved him. 00:27:16.365 --> 00:27:18.700 He must have really cared about him. 00:27:18.700 --> 00:27:23.133 And the skeptics said, wow, he could have done something. 00:27:23.766 --> 00:27:29.066 How do we know how he what he was really feeling in this moment? 00:27:29.066 --> 00:27:36.365 I heard Tommy Nelson point out that here we have in English the shortest verse in the Bible. Jesus wept. 00:27:36.365 --> 00:27:42.566 That's not the shortest verse in the Bible in Greek for all you trivia nerds out there, rejoice always. 00:27:42.566 --> 00:27:55.133 First Thessalonians 516 is shorter in Greek than Jesus wept and the contrast of those two verses, I think this points out a little bit of what's going on with Jesus here. 00:27:55.133 --> 00:28:09.700 Jesus wept, rejoice, always Jesus wept, rejoice always, You know, Jesus was both man and God, human and divine. 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:13.232 And which of those four exactly was he experiencing in that moment? 00:28:13.232 --> 00:28:14.833 But we don't know exactly. 00:28:14.833 --> 00:28:17.700 We can't know his mind and heart fully. 00:28:17.700 --> 00:28:20.266 But he wept. 00:28:20.266 --> 00:28:25.599 But also he knows how this is going to end up whatever his weeping was. 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:29.032 It wasn't at a place of utter despair. 00:28:29.633 --> 00:28:34.799 It wasn't at a place of questioning God to the point of not trusting. 00:28:35.900 --> 00:28:44.932 Jesus wept, but also rejoice always the Jews respond in this moment. 00:28:44.932 --> 00:28:50.432 And now we get a hint at this phrase being a state of unbelief. 00:28:51.500 --> 00:28:53.133 There's one more response, though. 00:28:54.266 --> 00:28:55.799 So the Jews were divided. 00:28:55.799 --> 00:28:57.799 That's the word for them. 00:28:57.799 --> 00:29:03.599 We had Martha, the one who was direct Mary, the one in despair. 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:08.165 The Jews were divided about who Jesus was. 00:29:08.299 --> 00:29:09.900 We have one more audience. 00:29:09.900 --> 00:29:12.633 Look at verse 38. 00:29:12.633 --> 00:29:15.266 Then Jesus deeply moved again, came to the tomb. 00:29:15.266 --> 00:29:17.732 It was a cave and a stone lay against it. 00:29:17.732 --> 00:29:29.200 Jesus said, Take away the stone, Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for He has been dead for days. 00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:32.965 Here's our practical one, Lord, I kind of have a sensitive nose here. 00:29:32.965 --> 00:29:35.766 Do we really need to open this thing up? 00:29:35.766 --> 00:29:39.665 You know, there will be an odor. 00:29:39.932 --> 00:29:46.900 And Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? 00:29:46.900 --> 00:29:48.599 So they took away the stone. 00:29:48.599 --> 00:29:53.066 Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 00:29:54.066 --> 00:29:55.799 I knew that you always hear me. 00:29:55.799 --> 00:30:01.532 But I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me. 00:30:01.532 --> 00:30:02.500 When he had said these things. 00:30:02.500 --> 00:30:04.532 He cried out with a loud voice. 00:30:04.532 --> 00:30:07.532 Lazarus, come out. 00:30:07.566 --> 00:30:13.400 The man who had died came out his hands and feet, bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with cloth. 00:30:13.400 --> 00:30:18.000 Jesus said to them, Unbind him and let him go. 00:30:19.165 --> 00:30:30.932 There was a fourth response to Jesus's delay, and his name was Lazarus, and I tried hard to find a good word that would go because the other three start with the. 00:30:30.932 --> 00:30:45.865 And I think the best option is not did Lazarus response was to be not dead meaning he rose I mean you wonder did he have a hand in that or not. 00:30:45.865 --> 00:30:46.900 Did he have a say in that? 00:30:46.900 --> 00:30:49.665 You know, Lord, I'd rather not follow you right now. 00:30:49.665 --> 00:30:54.865 I just kind of want to stay where I am, whatever that went down. 00:30:54.865 --> 00:30:58.900 Like he responded immediately and there were no words. 00:30:58.900 --> 00:31:00.865 Hey, Lord, how you doing? 00:31:00.865 --> 00:31:03.865 Let's talk a little bit about what just happened. 00:31:03.865 --> 00:31:10.032 No, he just responded, obeyed, came to the forefront. 00:31:10.032 --> 00:31:11.766 And Jesus, I love how he went about this. 00:31:11.766 --> 00:31:13.365 He started by praying a prayer. 00:31:13.365 --> 00:31:17.133 The prayer he prayed was prayed as if it had already happened. 00:31:17.133 --> 00:31:19.732 Thank you, Lord, that you have heard me. 00:31:19.732 --> 00:31:23.032 Thank you, Lord, for what you have all ready done. 00:31:23.032 --> 00:31:26.032 It was a prayer of hope. 00:31:26.165 --> 00:31:27.766 It was a prayer of expectation. 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:34.000 He knew that God was still at work, even though there might be an odor. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:36.566 But I also love how Martha responded in this moment. 00:31:36.566 --> 00:31:39.432 So he asked earlier, Do you believe. 00:31:39.432 --> 00:31:41.833 Yeah, Lord, I believe. 00:31:41.833 --> 00:31:48.932 Okay, well, when I come for days after the funeral and ask, Do you mind if we dig up the coffin? Is that okay now? 00:31:48.932 --> 00:31:52.665 Do you believe her response would show? 00:31:52.665 --> 00:31:57.766 Do you really believe that's a tall order? 00:31:57.766 --> 00:32:01.400 She's probably not just only concerned about the odor. 00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:06.566 It just seems really strange and inappropriate. 00:32:06.766 --> 00:32:15.099 But they took away the stone showing their faith, and Lazarus raised. 00:32:16.032 --> 00:32:21.232 I think when we look at this passage, it ends pretty abruptly. 00:32:21.232 --> 00:32:24.732 And what we're going to see next week in the next section is this response. 00:32:26.566 --> 00:32:29.599 That is mind blowing a response to Jesus. 00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:34.400 Raising someone from the dead is to want to kill him, is want to get rid of him. 00:32:34.400 --> 00:32:36.532 It's want to be done with him. 00:32:36.532 --> 00:32:41.633 So we know some of these Jews were here to keep an eye on what he might do. 00:32:41.833 --> 00:32:50.599 But I think as I read this, I think there are four key takeaways for us in terms of grieving in light of some of what we saw in these responses. 00:32:50.599 --> 00:32:51.932 In fact, let's look at four of these. 00:32:51.932 --> 00:32:56.532 The first is don't go it alone for lessons on grieving. 00:32:56.532 --> 00:32:58.032 Don't go it alone. 00:32:58.032 --> 00:33:01.932 Martha and Mary, in the midst of their grieving, they were with each other. 00:33:01.932 --> 00:33:04.599 They allowed the community to come around them. 00:33:04.599 --> 00:33:10.532 They didn't abandon their community practices, but they stayed in community. 00:33:10.532 --> 00:33:11.633 They stayed connected. 00:33:11.633 --> 00:33:12.833 They didn't try to go it alone. 00:33:12.833 --> 00:33:18.266 I know many times when we're grieving, the temptation is to pull away from others. 00:33:18.266 --> 00:33:19.232 But don't go it alone. 00:33:19.232 --> 00:33:24.066 Staying connected and I can't say this enough. 00:33:24.066 --> 00:33:25.732 I've said it feels like 100 times. 00:33:25.732 --> 00:33:26.432 I'll probably say it. 00:33:26.432 --> 00:33:38.400 1 million more is if you take the time to be building community is is now because it won't be there when you need it if it's not already built. 00:33:38.532 --> 00:33:42.232 And I know, I know we all have different challenges. 00:33:42.232 --> 00:33:49.066 I've heard from some you know, I struggle to get along with others, but stay with it, keep after it. It's worth it. 00:33:49.066 --> 00:33:50.099 You are going to mess up. 00:33:50.099 --> 00:33:51.532 You're going to say things you regret. 00:33:51.532 --> 00:33:53.700 You're going to offend people. You will. 00:33:53.700 --> 00:33:55.000 I will. 00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:56.532 You're going to have to apologize. 00:33:58.200 --> 00:33:59.965 I do Sometimes. 00:33:59.965 --> 00:34:04.465 I hope most of the time you're going to have to receive apologies. 00:34:04.465 --> 00:34:09.733 We're going to have to work together through the messiness of community. 00:34:09.733 --> 00:34:12.565 But it's worth it. 00:34:12.565 --> 00:34:17.699 And if you're watching online and I know people have different situations, okay. 00:34:17.699 --> 00:34:20.000 I know some people can't can't make it out. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:21.465 I get that. 00:34:21.465 --> 00:34:22.965 I'm not talking to you. 00:34:22.965 --> 00:34:26.132 I'm talking to those who have just gone, oh, this is just easier. 00:34:26.132 --> 00:34:28.500 I'm just gonna stay home, watch it online. 00:34:28.500 --> 00:34:30.300 Will be good. 00:34:30.300 --> 00:34:32.333 I'm grateful for that, By the way. 00:34:32.333 --> 00:34:35.132 I'm not saying that's the worst thing. 00:34:35.132 --> 00:34:35.932 I can't say enough. 00:34:35.932 --> 00:34:38.132 We need you here. 00:34:38.132 --> 00:34:41.699 We need you as much as you need. 00:34:41.699 --> 00:34:44.300 We need each other. 00:34:44.300 --> 00:34:47.166 Don't stay stuck in the apathy that was created for. 00:34:47.166 --> 00:34:48.400 For so many of us. 00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:53.800 I felt it too, and it was hard for us to get going back to church. 00:34:53.800 --> 00:34:56.865 I wasn't preaching at the time. Don't worry. 00:34:56.865 --> 00:34:59.000 That was hard for us too. 00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:00.465 It's like, Oh yeah, that was that. 00:35:00.465 --> 00:35:01.599 That's the thing we used to do. 00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:05.099 We used to go to that building with other people. 00:35:05.099 --> 00:35:15.432 There's some kind of apathy that is settled in so many, and I think the enemy is rejoicing at that. 00:35:15.432 --> 00:35:27.199 But we need to fight for community, build it now, because when you need it, it won't automatically appear and you will need it. 00:35:27.199 --> 00:35:30.300 There will be moments when you desperately need others to come around you. 00:35:30.300 --> 00:35:30.932 That's number one. 00:35:30.932 --> 00:35:31.699 Don't go it alone. 00:35:31.699 --> 00:35:35.733 Number two, move towards Jesus. 00:35:35.733 --> 00:35:38.199 Move toward Jesus. 00:35:38.199 --> 00:35:41.166 Mary and Martha both move toward Jesus. 00:35:41.166 --> 00:35:43.132 He didn't come to where they were. 00:35:45.032 --> 00:35:49.266 He got closer and then just stayed back and waited for them. 00:35:49.266 --> 00:35:50.532 Martha goes first. 00:35:50.532 --> 00:35:51.132 And you know what? 00:35:51.132 --> 00:35:56.733 Sometimes we're in a place where you don't feel like you can go toward him, Mary said. Not yet. 00:35:56.733 --> 00:36:00.632 We don't know exactly all the reasons why. 00:36:00.666 --> 00:36:03.632 Sometimes you got to send someone else for you. 00:36:03.632 --> 00:36:05.166 Please go for me. 00:36:05.166 --> 00:36:06.599 Go meet him for me. 00:36:06.599 --> 00:36:09.132 I'm going to get there by faith. 00:36:09.132 --> 00:36:11.666 I'm going to get there. 00:36:11.666 --> 00:36:14.400 But don't move into isolation physically from others. 00:36:14.400 --> 00:36:16.865 Don't move into isolation away from Jesus. 00:36:16.865 --> 00:36:20.699 In fact, in the midst of grieving, move toward him. 00:36:20.699 --> 00:36:22.833 He can handle the questions. 00:36:22.833 --> 00:36:25.132 He can handle the grief. 00:36:25.132 --> 00:36:29.365 I love it that he interacts with two very different women. 00:36:29.365 --> 00:36:32.400 Martha, the logical Martha, the doer. 00:36:33.766 --> 00:36:35.800 He doesn't beat her up. 00:36:35.800 --> 00:36:37.432 He engages with her where he is. 00:36:37.432 --> 00:36:41.800 And mary, he doesn't put her down for being the one overwhelmed with grief, the emotional. 00:36:41.800 --> 00:36:43.699 We can't even enter into a conversation. 00:36:43.699 --> 00:36:49.365 But he meets them both where they are, and they moved toward him. 00:36:49.365 --> 00:37:00.065 Number three walk by faith, Martha, in the midst of Jesus saying, Hey, let's open the tomb. 00:37:00.333 --> 00:37:01.965 Doesn't make any sense. 00:37:01.965 --> 00:37:04.965 It's not how we would do it. 00:37:05.132 --> 00:37:06.632 Walk by faith. 00:37:06.632 --> 00:37:09.032 I'm going to trust you, Lord, in moment. 00:37:09.032 --> 00:37:09.800 I don't get it. 00:37:09.800 --> 00:37:12.233 I'm going to trust you. 00:37:12.233 --> 00:37:18.199 And then lastly, number four, speak truth to yourself. 00:37:19.166 --> 00:37:22.800 In the midst of the anguish, in the midst of the grieving. 00:37:22.800 --> 00:37:27.065 And it's okay to grieve, keep speaking truth to yourself. 00:37:27.065 --> 00:37:28.500 Look back at verse 22. 00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:33.199 Look at how Martha did this. 00:37:33.199 --> 00:37:36.666 Jesus, If you had been here, my brother would have been okay. 00:37:36.666 --> 00:37:37.800 There's grieving in that. 00:37:37.800 --> 00:37:43.266 Whatever else is going on, there's a bit of we don't want to be without him. 00:37:43.266 --> 00:37:45.300 And in the midst of that, she speaks it out loud. 00:37:45.300 --> 00:37:53.733 But even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give to you. 00:37:53.733 --> 00:38:00.599 It's okay to grieve, but keep speaking truth to yourself in the midst of grieving. 00:38:00.599 --> 00:38:04.532 In fact, I think one of the ways I'd say it is grieve by faith. 00:38:04.532 --> 00:38:07.233 We don't grieve as those without hope. 00:38:07.233 --> 00:38:12.333 We don't grieve as those who were to the point of despair. 00:38:12.333 --> 00:38:15.900 I've mentioned over the last month a number of different times. 00:38:15.900 --> 00:38:21.032 Tim Keller, he was a well-known pastor, teacher writer. 00:38:21.032 --> 00:38:25.233 A lot of his books had meant a lot to me, and I know to a number of other people here. 00:38:25.233 --> 00:38:26.565 He passed away recently. 00:38:26.565 --> 00:38:30.233 That's why his name has come up more. 00:38:30.233 --> 00:38:33.565 And I ran across a story about him that I did not know. 00:38:33.565 --> 00:38:35.733 I've read a lot of his books, but I didn't know the story. 00:38:35.733 --> 00:38:35.900 Him. 00:38:35.900 --> 00:38:51.432 I ran across it this week as I was reading his biography, and it's the story of his relationship with his brother, his brother Billy, all of his adult life lived his life, an openly homosexual, rejecting God all along the way. 00:38:51.432 --> 00:38:59.465 His Billy, his brother Billy contracted AIDS and near the end of his life was taken into hospice. 00:38:59.465 --> 00:39:06.532 And Tim and his family and other church members and another local pastor all began to just pour out love on him. 00:39:06.532 --> 00:39:08.233 All began to just minister to him. 00:39:08.233 --> 00:39:11.333 All began to try to love on him and connect with him. 00:39:11.333 --> 00:39:12.865 I was friends were abandoning him. 00:39:12.865 --> 00:39:17.632 At this moment, none of his friends were around and were loving on him. 00:39:17.632 --> 00:39:22.833 And of course, Tim is telling him about the love of God in his life. 00:39:22.932 --> 00:39:25.099 And he said this about Billy's response. 00:39:25.099 --> 00:39:32.132 Billy had thought that being a Christian meant cleaning up his life and making him self-righteous. 00:39:32.333 --> 00:39:34.465 I got to clean it all up first to come to him. 00:39:34.465 --> 00:39:36.632 That's what he had thought. 00:39:36.632 --> 00:39:40.432 But Tim pointed to second Corinthians 521 for our sake. 00:39:40.432 --> 00:39:42.565 He made him to be sin. 00:39:42.565 --> 00:39:48.099 Who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:39:48.099 --> 00:39:54.599 And it was through those conversations that Billy finally came to know the love of God. 00:39:55.099 --> 00:40:01.599 Tim, at the memorial service, related Billy's life to the story of the prodigal Son. 00:40:02.065 --> 00:40:03.965 So many parallels. 00:40:03.965 --> 00:40:06.000 And here's what he had to say about this. 00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:07.666 Commenting on that reality. 00:40:08.699 --> 00:40:14.699 The world isn't made up of good people and bad people, Keller explained. 00:40:14.699 --> 00:40:16.065 That's a really interesting statement to make. 00:40:16.065 --> 00:40:19.766 The world isn't made up of good people and bad people. 00:40:19.766 --> 00:40:23.266 Here's the contrast that he draws out. 00:40:23.266 --> 00:40:27.099 There's the humble and the proud. 00:40:27.099 --> 00:40:28.199 It's not good or bad. 00:40:28.199 --> 00:40:31.199 It's humble or proud. 00:40:31.333 --> 00:40:36.632 He said it this way Only the humble enter the kingdom of God. 00:40:36.632 --> 00:40:41.699 It's the proud who are left out, which sums up the story of the prodigal son. 00:40:41.699 --> 00:40:45.532 The humble prodigal comes back to the banquet. 00:40:45.532 --> 00:40:48.132 The father throws the banquet and accepts him in. 00:40:48.132 --> 00:40:49.233 He comes in. 00:40:49.233 --> 00:40:51.432 He takes on the robe of righteousness. 00:40:51.432 --> 00:40:54.065 The robe of acceptance. 00:40:54.065 --> 00:41:04.800 But it's the proud older son who's left out who doesn't go in the humble and the proud. 00:41:04.800 --> 00:41:12.099 Tim spoke at the memorial service, and this is what he had to say about his own brother's passing. 00:41:13.932 --> 00:41:29.800 Billy took the robe, and when you attend a memorial service for someone who took the robe, the robe of Christ's righteousness, the robe of acceptance, the robe of the father's love, you're not, in the end grieving, but rejoicing. 00:41:29.800 --> 00:41:30.965 Is Billy dead today?? 00:41:30.965 --> 00:41:33.333 Tim asked. 00:41:33.333 --> 00:41:34.833 No, he's not. 00:41:34.833 --> 00:41:37.032 Billy was dead. 00:41:37.032 --> 00:41:38.900 But now he's alive. 00:41:38.900 --> 00:41:39.900 He took the robe. 00:41:39.900 --> 00:41:41.065 And when you take the. 00:41:41.065 --> 00:41:42.166 What happens to death? 00:41:42.166 --> 00:41:43.432 We laugh at death. 00:41:43.432 --> 00:41:47.400 Christians don't fall asleep when they die. 00:41:47.400 --> 00:41:50.632 That's when they finally wake up. 00:41:50.666 --> 00:41:55.733 Billy was more alive in that moment than he had ever been. 00:41:56.233 --> 00:41:58.500 We don't grieve of, though, as those without hope. 00:41:58.500 --> 00:42:00.465 We don't grieve to the point of despair. 00:42:00.465 --> 00:42:02.733 We grieve and we grieve. 00:42:02.733 --> 00:42:03.932 But we grieve by faith. 00:42:05.365 --> 00:42:08.365 Let's Pray. 00:42:08.865 --> 00:42:10.300 God, we thank you for your word. 00:42:10.300 --> 00:42:11.733 We thank you for this story. 00:42:11.733 --> 00:42:17.565 And John, Chapter 11 of Lazarus and the different responses to the delay of. 00:42:17.565 --> 00:42:20.565 Jesus. 00:42:21.632 --> 00:42:29.099 And I know in this room many have experienced deep grief and loss of loved ones. 00:42:29.733 --> 00:42:32.733 And even with Jesus weeping, we see that's okay to grieve. 00:42:32.733 --> 00:42:35.733 That's part of it. 00:42:36.632 --> 00:42:45.432 Lord, I pray as a church that when we lose loved ones, that in the midst of the grief, we would grieve by faith. 00:42:45.432 --> 00:42:50.432 We are not a has those who grieve without hope. 00:42:50.865 --> 00:42:52.400 Not to the point of despair. 00:42:52.400 --> 00:42:55.400 We know you are still near. 00:42:55.865 --> 00:42:57.865 Help us to move towards you. 00:42:57.865 --> 00:43:00.333 Help us to speak truth back to ourselves. 00:43:00.333 --> 00:43:04.400 Help us to walk by faith, to lean on others. 00:43:04.400 --> 00:43:05.733 To stay in community. 00:43:08.233 --> 00:43:09.833 I thank you for this body of believers. 00:43:09.833 --> 00:43:12.166 I thank you for so many. 00:43:12.166 --> 00:43:18.233 We don't do it perfectly, but who extend love to others in the midst of grief or to help us to keep in that. 00:43:18.233 --> 00:43:21.500 To keep getting stronger in that. 00:43:21.500 --> 00:43:31.032 And Lord, help us to be open with others about our losses, about our pains, so that we can love on one another. 00:43:31.166 --> 00:43:31.932 We love you, Jesus. 00:43:31.932 --> 00:43:34.800 We thank you for this morning. Amen.