This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day three of our look at John chapter 11 and daily drive time
devotions. We've been looking together at this miracle of the raising of Lazarus
and what Jesus did about this miracle. When you look at this miracle, we saw
that Jesus waited and that's how He loved.

That's one of the things that He did that looked forward to this miracle. And
then we see together that Jesus went and when He went, He invited faith, but now
we see a third thing. He waited, He went, and then Jesus wept.

One of the most familiar verses in all the Bible, but also one of the most
powerful expressions of love in those two words, "Jesus wept. " John 11, 28 to
32. After she, Martha, had said this, she went back and she called her sister
Mariasi, "The teacher is here," she said, "and he's asking for you.

" When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and she went to Him. Now Jesus had
not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met
Him. When the Jews who'd been with Mary in the house comforting her noticed how
quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going
to the tomb to mourn there.

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet
and said, "Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. " Before we
get to what Jesus does in a moment, notice Mary for just a moment. Mary goes to
Jesus.

She says essentially the same thing as Martha had said, "If you had been here,
my brother would not have died. " And then she falls to His feet. It's
interesting about Mary.

Every time you see Mary in the New Testament, she is humbling herself at the
feet of Jesus. And here she is, falling at His feet, humbling herself. These two
sisters, as we see how they respond to Jesus, you see some differences between
the ways that they respond.

One of them, Martha, went out immediately. She's more the activist. The other
waited to be called Mary.

She is more of the contemplative kind of person. They go and they seem to say
the exact same thing, but there is an interesting difference in the Greek
language. "If you had been here, my brother would not have died.

" The word "my" is in a different place in that phrase in the Greek language.
Martha, where the word "my" is, emphasizes that this is my brother who died.
This is what happened to me.

My brother died. And Mary, the way it's put, more emphasizes it is my brother
that died. The heartbreak of what happened.

They both were expressing their hurt just in different ways. Martha was vocal
and wanted to talk. Mary was tearful and wanted to be quiet in the presence of
Jesus.

And you know what I love? Jesus ministered to them both. He sees us in our grief
and He ministers to us.

He meets us in our grief where we are. Look at what happens. Verses 33 to 37.

When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also
weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Where He relayed Him, He
asked, "Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept.

And then the Jews said, "See how He loved him. " But some of them said, "Could
not He who opened the eyes of the blind men have kept this man from dying? "
Jesus sees Mary weeping.

He sees the Jews who had come with her, who were grieving with her, these
friends and family and people from the community. He sees them weeping. And the
Bible says, first He was deeply moved and troubled.

Some very interesting words in the Greek language. Deeply moved. It has the idea
of a deep indignation.

Literally, this word has the idea of to snort like a horse. That kind of a loud
snort when you're angry at something. And it indicated more an anger than a
sadness here.

And I sense here Jesus' anger at death. What death does to us, how it hurts us.
He came to conquer death.

And there was an anger in the heart of God at this terror of death. And then it
says He was troubled. The real idea here is He troubled Himself.

He was distressed. He was restless. There's even the idea here that He was
shaking.

He was distressed to the point of shaking over this. Where is He, He says. And
they say, "Here He is, Lord.

" And then Jesus wept. God wept. Love shed tears rather than pointing a finger.

In this moment, Jesus was compassionate rather than condemning. Instead of
saying, "Oh, don't you know what I can do? Don't you trust in me?

Why don't you trust in me? " He weeps with them. Instead of telling them why it
was wrong for them to cry, He cried with them.

Jesus wept. Now, this is famous for being the shortest verse in the English
Bible. The shortest verse in the Greek language is 1 Thessalonians 5.

16, "Always rejoice. " But there are less letters in English in John 11. 35.

And so a lot of people have memorized this verse. And we laugh about, "Well, at
least I memorized John 11. 35.

" But it's worth memorizing because it shows us the depth of who Jesus really
is. Jesus cried. Why?

Because He cared. He hurt for those who hurt. Even though Jesus understood
things that they did not understand, He still cried with them.

He didn't try to live above it all. He entered into life with people. As I look
at what Jesus did here, it is challenging to me.

It challenges me. And I hope it challenges you in two specific ways. Number one,
the challenge is to realize that faith, genuine faith, doesn't mean that I lose
all emotion.

A lot of people think that. Well, if you really trust God, you really know that
God's going to work it all out in the end. You really know that there's a heaven
waiting for you.

You really know that whatever problems you face on this earth, He will solve
them in the end in heaven. If you really believe that, why would you ever have
emotion, negative emotion about anything? Why would you ever cry?

Why would you ever grieve? Why would you ever hurt? Well, that's not the example
of Jesus.

Jesus wept. I hate the example of Jesus that we see in a lot of movies, a lot of
television shows. You've seen them, where Jesus is walking through the world
like He is, well, let me just be honest with you.

It's like He's on drugs or something. He has His days look in His eye, and He
looks like He's not really connected to anyone or anything that's around Him,
like His feet are floating two inches above the ground at all times. Listen,
that picture of the emotion of Jesus, it comes more from Eastern mystics than it
does from the New Testament.

The New Testament, you see an emotional Jesus. You see a Jesus who's connected
to life, connected to people, who's not afraid to cry, who's not afraid to hurt
with people. So faith does not mean that you lose all emotions.

Sure you know, sure you know that one day if somebody dies and they're a
believer, they're going to be in heaven and you're going to be with them. You
know that you have that hope. But the Bible says in Thessalonians that we grieve
as those who have hope.

We don't grieve as those who have no hope, but we do grieve. We do grieve
because there is the hurt of what death is. There is the hurt of what should not
have happened, and Jesus wept.

Two challenges here. Faith enters into life. It doesn't mean I lose all emotion,
and the second challenge is faith means that I enter into life with people, even
if they're confused.

You see, Jesus could have said to them, "Wait, wait, wait. Stop your crying. Let
me teach you what I'm going to do.

Just you over there. Stop your sniffling. Don't do that anymore.

Why are you doing that? Let me tell you what I'm going to do. " He didn't do
that.

He cried with them, and then he showed them what he could do. Just think about
how that relates to people that you love, people in your life, your spouse, your
husband, your wife. Do you listen to them or just preach to them?

Do you just try to get quickly to the solution? I know I'm talking more to
husbands than wives now, but even wives try to do this sometimes. We try to get
to the solution and we don't listen to the hurt.

Sometimes you just need somebody to hold hands with you. Do you hold hands or
point fingers with your kids, if you're a parent? It's too easy to forget that
they're real people with real feelings.

You're past their feelings. You don't hurt about the things that they hurt
about, but they hurt. Just because you understand it better, Jesus understood
life better than any of us ever could, but he still wept.

He still entered into life with people. When it comes to friends, are you one of
those people with the friends that you have when life gets a little bit
frustrating, they have too many problems for you, you want to shuttle them off
to the side? Do you want to have time for that?

Are you a person who says, "When life is frustrating for you, I want to be a
source of hope. I want to be a source of comfort. " Love means that I enter into
life with people even if they're confused, and faith means not that I lose all
emotion, but that I have trust in God even through the ups and downs of life.

Now as you look at how people responded to Jesus' tears, and we see the response
in the You see how people can get things confused. Some said, "Look how he loved
them. " They had the right response.

They saw his compassion, but others said, "Well, then why didn't he heal them? "
For them, it was just a question. They couldn't enter into life like Jesus
could, even as much as Jesus could.

They didn't understand. Jesus wept. "Those powerful words are a challenge to me.

" I hope they're a challenge to you today. Let them challenge you today. In
fact, as we pray, let's pray that Jesus would do something in our hearts through
his example.

Just pray this and say, "Jesus, I want to be like you. I want to feel about this
world the way that you felt about this world. So help me instead of living
outside at all, or above at all, or beyond at all, help me to enter into life
with people.

The people that you love and that I love, to weep with those who weep and
rejoice with those who rejoice. God, thank you that you do that for me. I don't
see your tears, but I know from these verses that they are there when I go
through difficult times.

I don't see your smile, but I know that from heaven you are smiling on me when
God's blessings and victories and growth and faith comes into my life. God, I
know you enter into life with me. You see the details.

And I pray, Jesus, that I would be more like you every day. I pray this in your
name, amen. " Well, don't miss tomorrow.

We're going to see that this incredible miracle we've been looking forward to
all throughout this chapter, this miracle happens tomorrow.