Read John 11:33-44
Questions for Littles: Who saw Mary weeping in John 11:33? Whom else did He see weeping? What did He do in His Spirit? What did He ask in John 11:34? What did they answer? How did Jesus respond to their answer in John 11:35? What observation did the Jews make when He responded that way (John 11:36)? But what did some of them ask in John 11:37? What did Jesus do “again” in Himself in John 11:38? Where did He go? What did Jesus say to do in John 11:39? Who answered Him? What did she say? What does Jesus ask her about in John 11:40? What had He told her? What did they do in John 11:41? How does Jesus begin His prayer? What does Jesus say that He knows in John 11:42? Because of whom does He pray out loud the way that He does here? What does He want them to do? What does Jesus cry out in John 11:43? What does Lazarus do in John 11:44? What does he look like? What does Jesus say to do with him?In the Gospel reading this week, we see the great compassion of our Lord Jesus.
Jesus cares about our pain. Perhaps we expect that Jesus will be moved by Mary’s weeping. After all, she is His friend, and we have already heard that He loves her. We are prone to forget that people like Mary (and ourselves) are fully deserving of Christ’s anger, not His sympathy.
So the Spirit tells us that it was also the weeping of the Jews that moved Jesus to groan. The Jews?! Yes. The ones who had recently tried to stone Him, so that the apostles didn’t even want to come near Judea. Jesus responded to the sight of their tears by groaning in His Spirit (John 11:33). Jesus responded to the sound of their grieving voices with tears of His own! (John 11:34-35).
Jesus also cares about our souls. It matters to Him that the John 11:36 Jews don’t see that Jesus’s groans and tears are for all of them, not just Lazarus. It matters to Him even that the more outwardly hostile Jews in John 11:37 are attacking Him instead of believing. He prays for them. He prays that they would believe. And He thanks God for hearing His prayers for them! Oh, what comfort is this—that the heart of our Lord Jesus in heaven is that heart that prayed for hard sinners even while He was on earth. Is He not there even now, praying for us that we would believe?!
But believe what? John 11:40 hints at the answer. We must believe what Jesus says about Himself. “Did I not say to you?,” He asks Martha. And His speech to Martha has had the same effect on her soul as His speech to Lazarus has upon his body. She has believed what He said about Himself. His words did bring her soul to life, so that she believed that He is the Christ, the Son of God who is the Creator Himself that entered the cosmos.
Jesus has also told you, dear reader, that if you believe you will see in Him the very glory of God!
What are some things Jesus has said to you about Himself? Pray to believe them!Suggested songs: ARP110B “The Lord Has Spoken to My Lord” or TPH280 “Wondrous King”
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