When Tragedy Strikes

Almost every week we pastors are called upon to minister to grieving families. Some of those deaths are a welcome release from suffering to be ushered into the presence of the Lord where there is no more pain in suffering. Others of those deaths are sudden and unexpected or involve horrible tragedies that leave families stunned and drained. It is such an event, an occasion that meets our Lord in John chapter 11. John chapter 11 is the story, the familiar story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. It's the focus of our attention this morning in John's gospel. So I invite your attention to John chapter 11. I believe if you can rank miracles and rate them, I believe this is the greatest of all the miracles that Jesus performs. There are three occasions in the gospels where it is recorded that Jesus raised someone from the dead. The other two of them however are within hours after the death of the individual. This one is a full four days later. Now I know what you're thinking if you're dead your dead, it doesn't matter, right? That's true, but not in the Jewish mind. There was a Jewish tradition, more like a superstition, that said the spirit hovers around the body for three days and after three days then departs. While that obviously is not true, that was the superstition and feeling of most Jews of the day. And so it is as though the very timing of this miracle is designed to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt the power of our Lord. For that reason I consider it to be the greatest of all of his miracles. But what is often lost in thinking about this story is that what we really have here is a horrible tragedy that befalls a very ordinary family like us. This is Mary, Martha and Lazarus. This is not one of the apostles. They didn't write any books of the New Testament. They didn't crisscross the Roman Empire like Paul did spreading the gospel. These are common ordinary folks like us. Yes, people that love the Lord, people who know the Lord, that's clear from their interactions with Christ in Luke chapter 10. Christ is in their home. Martha's preparing the meal. Mary is sitting at his feet, worshiping him. They're very close to Jesus. Under 12 of John's gospel we find that Mary breaks open, a container of precious and costly ointment and pours it on Jesus' feet. And here in our story in chapter 11 it's very clear that there is a close relationship between Mary and Martha and Lazarus and Jesus. But there are common ordinary folks like us and the tragedy befalls them just like it sometimes does us. Something goes horribly wrong in their family. The brother, Lazarus, gets sick and then dies. The implication is that's quite unexpected. It was not the result of a long illness or old age in fading health. Just like the tragedies that we, common ordinary believers and followers of Christ sometimes face, we find faced by a family in this chapter. This is much like when you lose your job. This is much like when you're in a horrible wreck and there are life-altering injuries that will change your life forever. This is much like when you find out you have cancer and the doctor says you have six months left to live. This is a lot like when your mate dies. This is a lot like when a child is suddenly taken from you. This is a lot like when a spouse leaves without any warning. This is a tragedy, a horrible event in the life of a normal family of Christ followers. What do you do when tragedy strikes? When tragedy strikes and leaves you reeling and you know that your life will never be the same from now on. What do you do? How do you cope? How do you make it? How do you survive when tragedy strikes? Three very simple words contain the answer. Trust the Lord. Now I know that sounds awful mundane. I know it sounds like the answer to every issue in life. I know that it can come across so fright and I know that it glibly rolls off the lips of many of us who have never really had to trust the Lord in these kinds of tragedies. And so it's very easy no matter what someone else is going through it very calmly and glibly say, trust the Lord, you'll be fine. Just trust the Lord brother. You'll see you through. It's very easy to say that. What I would like to do is move beyond that surface, that veneer, that statement that we so easily say with no meaning behind it and see what it really means to trust the Lord when tragedy strikes. Because that's what this family is called up on to do and that's what in many ways they serve as a good model for us to do. So what does it mean to trust the Lord on a deeper level when tragedy strikes? Well as the story begins, it is clear in the first 16 verses that it means this. To trust the Lord when tragedy strikes means that we must trust His wisdom. Let's begin the story. Verse 1. Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary whose brother Lazarus now lay sick was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus. Lord, the one you love is sick. When he heard this, Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified through it. We're going to stop right there for a moment in the story. And what we see here is that in times when tragedy strikes, we must trust God's wisdom about His purpose. Because He tells us what His purpose is in this event and really by implication, and we know from other scriptures, what His purpose is in everything that happens in life. Good and bad. And that is God's ultimate purpose is His glory. He says it in verse 4. The sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory. So that God's son may be glorified through it. God's glory is God's ultimate purpose in everything that happens. We're talking about His majesty, the demonstration of His power, the ability to see His perfections. That's His glory. And that is His purpose in everything that happens, including tragedies. But we can't always see that purpose and therein lies the problem. We cannot understand when tragedy strikes. We cannot always understand how His purpose is going to be seen in this, how His glory is going to be seen, how His purpose will be worked out. Sometimes and in this case, it's true, it sure doesn't look like He's in control. It sure doesn't look like He's exercising His power. It sure doesn't look like His perfections are being manifested. Certainly doesn't appear that way in this story. Because as you know how the story progresses, these people have reached out to Jesus in verse 3. They have indicated with confidence to Him the one you love is sick. The clear implication is we know if you want to, you can do something about this. And I believe firmly believe Jesus would show up that Jesus would be there. He would respond as quickly as He could to meet that need. They had seen Him do healings. They had heard of many more healings that He had done. Surely the one He loves, He will come to their side. He will respond to their earnest cry for help. But Jesus makes this promise in verse 4. This sickness will not end in death. And then He does nothing. As the story goes on, He stays where He is for two more days. He does nothing. Where is His glory? Where is His power? Where are His perfections seen? Where is His majesty being seen? And we often find ourselves in the same position. There are so many invitations in the scriptures to pray, to cast our burdens on the Lord. There are so many promises about how much He cares for us and that He promises to meet our needs. And so we cry out and we believe and we trust Him. But then the unthinkable happens and He seems not to show up. And we're left confused. We're left spiritually disoriented. We're left wondering what happened? What's going on here? I don't understand this. I don't see how this glorifies God. I don't see how this is good for anybody. In the midst of those troubling questions, in the midst of life-authoring tragedies, that is where we must trust His wisdom about His purpose. It will help if we notice closely what He does not and what He does promise. Look with me again at verse 4. Notice what He does promise and also what He does not promise. He says, this sickness will not end in death. Please note carefully what He does not say. He does not say this sickness will not result in death. And He never promises that to us. He never promises us that we will escape the suffering and hardship and difficulty in trial of this life. He does not promise that to us. Part of living in a world that is under God's curse, God's judgment because of man's sin introduced by Adam into the human experience and into the world. Part of living in that kind of a world, that dysfunctional world is illness and disease and suffering and sorrow and death. And God never promises that His followers will be exempt from all of that. He lives in this cursed world just like everybody else. Now to be sure He does promise He will walk with us through all of those times. We do have Him holding our hand and walking with us through those times. But He never promises that our lives will not result in hardship. Even in death He doesn't promise it won't result in it. What He does promise. He promises this sickness will not end in death. There is a big difference. It is the way things end that brings God glory. It is the way things end that shows His greatness. It is the way things end that show His purpose which is to work out His glory. Yes, in this world we will suffer. But that is not how things end. That is not the final picture for the believer. Suffering will not have the last word. Pain will not have the last word. Sorrow will not have the last word. Sickness will not have the last word. Death will not have the last word. Christ will have the last word. And He will have the last word when He banishes all of those evidences of the curse from His presence. Sorrow, pain, suffering, illness, death, grief. There will come a time when He banishes all of those from His presence and we join Him in a perfect place called heaven. That is the end. That is how things end. There will be and can be and may be many results of things of the curse playing itself out in our lives in this world. But that is not how it ends. And Jesus was looking toward the end, not the temporary result. That is what we call hope. The biblical word for that is hope. He Paul talks about how all that fits together in a sin-curse world, how hope operates in Romans chapter 8. Please note carefully these verses. We are putting them on the screen so that you can really see them for a few moments. Paul says in Romans 8, 18, I consider that our present sufferings. Notice He does not deny that we will suffer. He does not try to close His eyes toward it. He does not try to deny it or live in denial about it. Yes, we suffer. And our present sufferings, He says, are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. God's glory at some time in the future will be seen in us. Even in our physical makeup, it will take the place of our sufferings. Paul goes on a few verses later to describe how that works. Verse 22, He says, we know that the whole creation, the whole God's all of his creation, all of nature, has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit. Now let that sink in for a moment. It is not just nature that groans. It is not just our gardens that are attacked by weeds. It is also us that are attacked by diseases. And so we ourselves also groan. And we have the first fruits of the spirit. The first fruits of the spirit basically is the promise of glory to come. The presence of the Holy Spirit is just like the first fruits of a much larger harvest to come in the future. So we have the Holy Spirit who is like our promise or note, our first fruits of a larger harvest to come when we get to heaven. But even we, even those of us who have that, Paul says, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship. What is he talking about there? The redemption of our bodies. He's talking about when the body will catch up with the soul. Your soul has already been saved. Your body hasn't been saved yet. It's going to catch up one of these days. It's going to be redeemed when you get into the presence of God. It's going to catch up with the rest of you. And so Paul's talking about the redemption of our bodies. Notice what he goes on to say. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. In other words, if you have it all now, you're not hoping for anything. There's no promise for the future. This passage, by the way, is one of the greatest, condemning evidences of the faith healing movement. Because God says we're going to have sufferings in our bodies. They are not yet redeemed. And if we have all of the healing now, then what do we have the hope for? But Paul says, who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not have, we wait for it patiently. You see, Paul is saying the same thing that Jesus is saying here. The end result, the end of all things is God's glory. Not the temporary along the way results necessarily as far as we're looking at them. There may be lots of implications of the curse that happen along the way. But the end, God's purpose, is that we will be glorified with Him and we wait for that eagerly and patiently. We hope for that. We point toward that. We live for heaven. So we've got to trust His wisdom about His purpose, that He is working on His purpose toward that end, whether or not we can see it right now in our experience. But we also need to trust His wisdom about His timing because it's the timing of things that really throws us at times. Okay? Theologically, we may know the end purpose. We may know what God is working toward an eternity. It's the timing of things that throws us. And I have no question it was the timing of things that threw Mary and Martha too. Look at verse 5. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was. Who more days? Versus 5 and 6 don't seem to go together. They seem like a contradiction. God loves them. And so He will go, right? He will respond. He will heal. No, God loves them. So when He heard Lazarus was sick, He didn't do anything. He stayed. Stayed right where He was. That doesn't seem to fit. It seems like opposites. He goes on to have this conversation with His disciples about we're going to go to Jerusalem and they think that's not a good idea. They're ready to kill you there. Jesus says we're going to do, you know, we're going to work in the daylight and we've got daylight and eventually reveals to them that Lazarus has died and that they're going to go and go to Him in verse 15. So they end up going. But the timing doesn't seem to fit. God's timing from our perspective doesn't seem to fit His purpose. His purpose is to display His glory, show His power, manifest His majesty. But I don't see it happening. The timing seems out of whack to me. And here's the reason why. We see all of life's events from a ground level. I mean, think about it. We see what's happening in our lives right now. We can look back and see what's happened in the past, but the older you get, the less of that you can recall. And so that tends to fade away. But we can see what's happening right now. We may be able to look ahead a little bit and anticipate what might happen, but we're not sure. See, we look at our lives from a ground level perspective. We can only see what's happening now around us and maybe some of what's led up to that. But God is in heaven. We are told when we pray to Him to pray to Him our Father who is in heaven. He's above all. He's overall. He's looking down from His perspective in heaven and He sees it all. He sees not only what we see in the here and now, but He sees the beginning and He sees the end and He sees the fulfillment of His purpose on a grand scale for the universe, but also on an individual scale for your life and my. He sees exactly what He's doing and how He's going to get us there. We can't see that. We have a limited perspective, but He knows it all. And so even His delays in His timing are motivated by His love for us, even when we can't see it. It's motivated by His love for us because He knows what He's working out in the future. I can only put myself in Mary and Martha's sandals and think of what it must have been like for them. I can imagine that after they had sent word to Jesus, they would get up from Lazarus bedside and go out to the window, the front room, look down toward the gate up the road to see if Jesus was coming. And then go back and sit by Lazarus bedside again. And every time they go back, they realize He's growing weaker. They keep going looking, hoping, believing. And then finally, they sit by His bedside as Lazarus breeds His last. Their minds are numb. But they walk through the necessary details. He has to be buried within a day. They have to put Him within a linen burial garment. They have to wrap His body with cloths, strips of cloth, and pack spices in those to help with the future-fying decay of the body and the smell that it will give off. And they have to make their way to the graveside where He's going to be buried. And professional mourners are along lining the path and going with them and wailing and crying out. And they get to the graveside and they listen to speeches that are made. And then they go home all the time mindlessly walking through the necessary details. But all the time wondering, where's Jesus? Where's Jesus? I thought He loved us. They can only see what's right in front of them. They can't see what Jesus knows about what He's going to do. They can't see that yet. Not possible for them to see that yet. One of my favorite stories in all the Bible is the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. I love that story. I just think it's one of the greatest evidences of what we're talking about that I've ever seen in Scripture. You may recall the story. Joseph is 17 years old and very aware of God's revelation to him about his place in the family. So much aware that he's sharing it with his brothers, which causes them to hate him. They want to get rid of Joseph. And finally they land upon a plan to sell him into slavery. It's a midnight traitors going through their area, take him down to Egypt. And for 13 years, it seems like tragedy after tragedy, set back after set back nothing is going right for Joseph. He ends up as a 17 year old boy in a foreign country. He doesn't know how to speak the language and he is a slave in somebody's household. He works hard and rises to the head of the slaves in that household. And then he's falsely accused by his master's wife and thrown into prison on an unjust charge possibly facing, potentially facing the death penalty for what he has accused of. 13 years he is a prisoner or a slave. 13 years. That's what he sees from his limited perspective. But God is looking at it from a different perspective. He sees the beginning, he sees the end. He knows exactly what he's doing. And he is working out his purpose in Joseph's life. God knows that 20 years from now, there will be a famine in the little land of Canaan. And his fledgling little nation numbering only about 70 people at the time. The nation he's promised to bring a Messiah through is going to need some help, some protection, some place to flourish in the midst of this famine. In order to do that, 20 years ahead of that famine, he sends someone to Egypt to the place where he knows they can best be protected. That person is Joseph. Now God knows he's got a lot of growing up to do, a lot to learn. So he puts him in a position where he will learn how to run a household. He'll learn how to manage things. All the time schooling him and preparing him for the job he has for him later. Prison? Where does that fit in? Well, that's the place where he will run across two of Pharaoh's governmental officials who are both accused of a plot against Pharaoh. They have dreams about their future. Joseph has given the ability by God to interpret those dreams. And they come true. One of those has found guilty and killed. The other has restored to his position in Pharaoh's court. And it is through that encounter that the ability to interpret dreams will be made known to Pharaoh because Pharaoh's having his own dreams that he doesn't understand. They are God's way of warning him the famine is coming. And Joseph is the tie to how those dreams will be interpreted. God uses all of those contacts and the ability is given Joseph to interpret the dreams, to bring into Pharaoh's attention. And when he does so masterfully explain the dreams of Pharaoh, Pharaoh knows he has his man to help run the program of collection of crops for seven years to provide for the seven years of famine. It's a beautiful story, marvelous story. And only at the end of his life is Joseph able to see that big picture. And toward the end of his life his brothers are still afraid Joseph is going to try to get even with them. And Joseph looks at them and says, you meant it to me for evil but God meant it to me for good. I can look back now over the span of my life and see how God was fulfilling his purpose in my life. I doubt that he saw it when he was 17 years old languishing in that pit, drawn up and sold to those midnight traders and carted down the Egypt. I doubt that he saw God's plan then. You see it is the timing of things that troubles us, that haunts us at times. And when we can't understand the timing of God's wisdom and purpose, we have to trust him to trust his wisdom about his purpose and even the timing of the outworking of his purpose. This ordinary family just like us is put in a position where they must trust his wisdom. But they're also called upon just like we will be called upon at times to trust not only his wisdom but also his person. And sometimes when we're reeling with confusion about what's happened in our lives but we have tragedy, we fall back upon the clear revelation of God as to who Jesus is. And sometimes that's the only foundation you have to stand on is to remember who Jesus is. Three things about who he is, surface in the next few verses. Look at verse 17. First of all, we find that he is Lord. Verse 17. One thing on his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him but Mary stayed at home. Now look at verse 21. Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. You skip down to verse 32. You find that when Mary eventually comes out to the place where Jesus is, she says basically the same thing. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. They both say the same thing which indicates to me that for at least four days or more they've been talking about this. Lord, if you had been here, Lord, why weren't you here? Do you understand what they are saying here? They are both voicing their confusion. Why did you let this happen? They are saying those if only that we always say in times of tragedy, if only I hadn't done, if only I had done, if only God had, if only Lord, if only you had been here. Why did you let this happen? Why didn't you come? How could you let Lazarus die? That's what they're struggling with. They're asking those questions. Have you been there? Where were you, God, when my loved one died? Where were you, Lord, when my marriage was failing? Where were you, Lord, when my parents divorced? Where were you when my alcoholic father was beating me in a drunken rage? Lord, where were you when I got cheated out of my job? Lord, where were you when my child went astray? Yeah, you've been there. In one way or another, you've been there. And you've asked the same questions. If only Lord, why, how could you let this happen? Sometimes we ask those questions in anger pounding our fists into the table. Sometimes we ask them with shock and confusion, with a bewildered expression on our face that shows what's in our hearts. Sometimes we ask them in shock and denial as we mindlessly go on with our life, trying to shove out of our minds the agony of these questions. They're there. Why, I want you here. But in the midst of all those questions, there is an unshakeable foundation. A lot has been shaken in their hearts and minds. But there is an unshakeable foundation, and that is this. They know. They may not know anything else right now, but they know one thing. He is Lord. Both of them call Him Lord. They don't address Him as Jesus. They could have, that's His name, but they address Him as Lord. And notice the reverence and submission in their thoughts, in their actions in verse 22, Martha says, but I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. I'm voicing my questions. If you'd only been here, but I know, I know who you are, and I know God can give you whatever you ask. That is a reverence submission to His Lordship, even in the midst of troubling questions. And Mary does the same thing, verse 32, when she reached the place where it was, she fell at His feet. Not just a posture, but a very active worship. When we have questions that we can't rightly answer, and our minds are dizzy with the thoughts of what happened and why it happened. There's one unshakeable foundation we must hang onto, and that is that He is Lord. He is in control. He hasn't lost His grip on this world, this universe, my life. He's Lord. But not only is He Lord, thank God He is the resurrection in the life. And they and their situation need to know that. Verse 23, Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know, he will rise again in the resurrection of the last day. She's repeating her theology. She's learned from the Old Testament. She knows as a resurrection day. She's read Daniel chapter 12, verse 2. She's read Isaiah 26, 19. She's read the verses about resurrection. She knows that. I know. I know. I know. I know the theology. And Jesus says, we'll wait a second. I'm not talking about an event on your prophetic calendar. I'm not talking about your prophetic chart that labels where the resurrection is going to be so that you know it. You got it down up here. It's a person. Yes, it's an event that will happen. But resurrection is in a person so he brings her back to himself in verse 25. And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. The first promise he makes hers, if you know me, if you trust me, if you believe in me, as your savior, even when you die, you're simply living. You're simply going through a doorway that leads to an expanded life, a greater life, life in heaven, life in a perfect place, life with no more suffering, no more pain in death and sorrow. So even if you die, you just go to a greater life. You're still living. And then he makes your second promise. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Never die physically? No, no, that's not the promise. Remember, result and end, effects of the curse we experience, but Jesus is looking at the end. So Jesus is here talking about the second death, the end death, the death that Revelation 20 talks about when all the unsaved dead are judged before God and thrown into the lake of fire for their ultimate judgment, which is called the second death, the ultimate final death. Jesus is saying, if you believe in me, you'll never experience that. So two great promises, I am the resurrection and the life. If you trust me as your Savior, you will never experience God's condemnation and judgment for your sin. You will never be in the lake of fire. You will never be in hell. You will never die in that sense. And when you do die physically, you just go through a doorway to life. It's all found in a person, my friend. It's all found in Christ. And it is only as you know, Christ is your Savior that you can have this hope of eternal life in heaven and death simply being a doorway into His presence. He is the resurrection and the life. Do you believe that? Jesus asks Mary, do you believe this? And she comes out with a great answer in verse 27. Yes, Lord, she replied, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world. And she touches on a third fact about the person of Christ that we must maintain. In our hearts and thoughts when tragedy strikes. And that is that he is the Son of God. He is God's Son who was sit down to this earth to be in her mind, the Messiah, in our mind, the Savior, the one who would come to die for us on the cross. So the deity of Christ, who he is and his work on the cross is what's in view here. And she restates her faith in that, her belief in that, her confidence, her commitment to that, that Jesus is God's Son sent to this earth to be our Savior. I believe that, she says, yes, I do believe that. And that is the key to everything. Reaffirming in your heart and mind who Jesus is, if you can't figure anything else at anything else out, fall back upon that sure foundation that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is my resurrection, my life. He is the Son of God who died for me. Rest on that foundation when you can't figure out anything else. Trust his person. And then quickly, trust his compassion. You can, you can trust his compassion. Sometimes when we talk about God's plan being worked out, his glory is going to be seen. It's almost like this is a cold, impersonal boom, boom, boom. There's the next step in the plan. Here's the next step in the plan. Step number 8,000, step number 4 million. Boom, boom, boom. We're all working out. Just moving right toward God. No, no. This is not a cold, steely, distant, flaring of a computer, working out a plan. This is God who loves you, who feels with you every step along the way in the working out of his plan. He feels with you so clear in this passage. In verses 28 to 37, Jesus sees Mary also at the graveside, then in verse 33, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deep bley moved in spirit and trouble. Where have you laid him, he asks, come and see they replied. Come and see Lord they replied. Jesus wept. This is genuine compassion. Jesus is deeply moved, the Bible says, that is a fascinating word. It's only found three other times in the Gospels and all three of those occasions it means to sternly warn someone, to angrily rebuke someone. You know, I've added here moved in spirit but I think there was some outward demonstration of anger here. Jesus is angered at what he sees. Please don't misunderstand this. He's not angry at Mary. He's not angry at Martha. He's not angry at them for grieving the loss of their brother. Remember Jesus sees the bigger picture and it is that bigger picture. It is that bigger picture that Jesus sees, that angers him, that deeply moves him. He sees before him the outplaying of everything that has happened because of the introduction of sin and death and God's curse on nature. He sees all of that being played out before him. Death and grief and separation. He sees in Mary and Martha and the other friends of the family. He sees that and he knows that was never God's intent. He knows that it's because of Adam's sin and the resulting curse on this world and on mankind because of his sin. Nature doesn't operate like it should. Our gardens are attacked by weeds. Our bodies are attacked by diseases. Jesus knows all of that and he knows the root of it. He knows why. Man doesn't function like he should. Our work is toil, some frustrating. Our relationships are difficult. We endure disease and pain and suffering and death and none of that was God's intent. None of that was his original plan and Jesus sees all of that and knows all of that and he's confronted with all this wreckage that is brought about from Adam's sin and the enemy's work in this world. And he is angered with righteous anger because he sees all of this being played out before him and he grieves just like he does with you. Every time you face a tragedy, he grieves with you. He's deeply moved and troubled and his spirit spurred in his spirit because of what he sees you going through. Please see that and please trust his compassion. It is genuine. But it's also compassion for the family. It's when he saw her weeping, verse 33, and the Jews would come along that he was troubled and he literally enters into their sorrow. It is compassion for them. It's not compassion for Lazarus. That's not needed. Lazarus is going to be raised in a few minutes and Jesus knows the end of all things anyway. But it is a deep moving in his spirit and heart, emotions because of what he sees and then Jesus weeps with you. It is also compassion that is balanced with hope. Look again at verse 35, Jesus wept. And I know from that verse, the shortest verse in the Bible, that Jesus is expressing hope there. The word for wept is a different word than what John has used in verse 33 when Mary is weeping and the Jews along with her are weeping. It's a word which means a loud whaling. Just grief that is unchecked, that is unrestrained, that just flows out of us. But John uses a different word for Jesus weeping. It's a word which was used in the first century of tear streaming down your cheek. It is a silent weeping. He is moved. He is deeply troubled. He is stirred. And he cries. There are tears coming down his cheek but it is mixed and balanced with hope. It is if you can say this a silent weeping. It is not the wailing unrestrained grief that is hit Mary and Martha. It is a grief that is balanced with hope and it is a grief that he offers to us. And our times when we lash out and cry out, he does not rebuke them for their grieving. No, he weeps with them. But his weep, his tears are mixed with hope. Ours can be too eventually at some point when we come to understand this a little further down the road. Lassarus is his compassion and then finally and quickly trust his power. You know the rest of the story he stands before the tomb has them move the stone and cries out in a loud voice. Lazarus, come out. It has been rightly said that if he had not used Lazarus's name there would have been bodies coming out from all over the place. Lazarus, come out. Lazarus does wrapped in the cloths possibly not even able to move his feet but moving forward out of the tomb. Jesus tells him to take the grave clothes off. Set him free. That is his power then. He has the same power now. Because Jesus is still in the business of resurrecting dead people and setting them free. Spiritually every time a lost soul comes to know Jesus as Savior what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 takes place. Because of his great love for us God who was rich in mercy made us alive with Christ. Even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God does a resurrection every time someone gets saved. He takes someone who is dead in transgressions and sins and gives life, brings them out of the tomb and sets us free to now be his servants. His power now but this is just a glimpse, just a little glimpse of his power in the future. Because in John chapter 5 Jesus himself has said do not be amazed at this for time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come out. All not just Lazarus all. There is coming a day when Jesus will demonstrate his power on a much grander scale than these people saw and that is when he comes back. That shout of triumph I believe will be a shout of come forth come out. And Jesus will take his children out of their tombs, out of their graves bodies reunited with spirits that are already with him. And yes there will be other resurrections later of those who are lost but the power of Christ will be seen in this future resurrection. Trust his power. When you cannot understand what has happened to you, why it has happened and why Jesus didn't show up. Trust the Lord. From the bottom of my heart I do not mean that in a surface way. You can trust his wisdom. You can trust his person. You can trust his compassion and you can trust his power. The question is how will you respond when tragedy strikes? It will and it will again how you respond. Let's pray together. Lord tragedy we know is a part of this life and our experience here in this sin cursed world. We thank you that we have you to walk with us through it. That you hold us by our right hand and say do not fear. We thank you that we can trust you. Lord I pray for hearts who are reeling even this morning here. You will show yourself to them through your word that they will know they can trust you. For those who are in the middle of tragedy and they are reeling and asking questions and not able to figure out what is going on, help them to trust you. For one who has never trusted you before, who has never committed his or her life to you, been forgiven of their sin through trusting in Christ's death. I pray that today they would trust you as Savior. We ask in Jesus name, Amen.