If you believe you will see the glory of God no matter what. John 11

John 11

32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved[e] in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 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 four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Lazarus is dead. And Jesus knows it. 

He is walking along the road to go to see his dearest friends when he first gets the word that Lazarus is not well and about to die. His disciples encourage him to hurry so that Jesus can get there in time to heal Lazarus. And Jesus stays the course without quickening his pace. He tells them Lazarus has fallen asleep. And the disciples, taking Jesus’ words literally, say that this is good. If he sleeps he will get better.

Realizing that they did not get the point Jesus tells them, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.”

Lazarus is dead and Jesus knows it. And he is in no apparent hurry nor does he seem to be terribly upset while on the road to Mary and Martha.

But when he gets there the scripture tells us Jesus was deeply moved and greatly troubled. You know this feeling. This is about the emotional turmoil that makes the stomach, the gut, the abdomen groan and churn. 

In Jesus’ day the seat of emotions is not the heart but the bowels. And I get it. When I am deeply upset, fearful, stressed, it is my gut that hurts. Jesus feels the movement, the troubling of his spirit so deeply his stomach churns. It isn’t just in his head where sad thoughts sit. It isn’t just a sadness that makes him mournful. It is so deep he feels it in his gut. His digestive system groans.

Why the sudden change? Finding Lazarus dead was not a surprise. 

We read: 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. 

Oh Mary, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

Jesus has come to bring a glimpse of the kingdom of God. A Kingdom that he tells them does not exist somewhere out there but here, in their midst, within themselves. A kingdom that changes everything. One that does not see death as the end but rather as a step into another part of this same life.

And he groans, he weeps because they still cannot see. They still have not let these words become part of who they are. And without that full realization, without the unity to the truth, they live in the midst of despair. And he wants so much more for them. So much more. And he weeps for them.

Jesus in the manifestation of God. Jesus shows us who God is. The very essence of love and hope and faith. Jesus comes to us to show us what it is like if we see God in this world. Death, where is your sting?

This message is a beautiful message for any of us who have lost someone dear to us. We must not despair. The world is not as we think it is. There is more, so much more. And if we are united with God and Jesus then we know this. Deep down, where emotions move us, we know this.

But this is not just a message for death of the body. This is a message for the death of hope. This is a message for those in despair.

On Wednesday morning some will walk in this place of despair. Some will weep. Some will be deeply moved and greatly troubled in their gut. This is a message for us on that day as well.

Despair brings shock, anger, denial, depression. It does not come from the God of Love.

“Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

God is with us. God has not left us. Not now in the midst of all the foolishness being said on tv, facebook, twitter, in the streets, not later when some will be celebrating and others will be weeping. Even then we are called to believe and to watch for the glory of God.

Jesus wept. It was not a tear running down his cheek. He wept from the deepest source of sadness. 

God weeps too when we do not , will not, can not believe that his kingdom is in our midst. His glory is revealed daily around us. When we succumb to despair and blame. Remember Mary blamed Jesus for not being there and saving her brother.  

And a warning to you, this weeping will be for either group, no matter how they voted. Remember that if you are celebrating, God is weeping for them.

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

If you believe this then even when all that you have loved and hoped in seems to have died, you will know that there is life. There is the kingdom. There is love.

If you believe you will see the glory of God no matter what.