{"id":30918,"date":"2018-09-25T07:00:39","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T06:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?p=30918"},"modified":"2025-11-05T12:01:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T12:01:29","slug":"jesus-wept-with-compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2018\/09\/jesus-wept-with-compassion\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Wept with Compassion – Lazarus Rises From the Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Image: Tamasin Warnock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Only the compassion of Jesus can sustain us when we face real challenges.<\/h2>\n

This morning, I am heading to UCLH to be told what form of chemotherapy or related treatment I will need to take<\/a>. I know many have prayed for my supernatural healing. But as I was thinking of this yesterday, \u00a0I was reminded of Jesus\u2019 response to hearing that his friend was sick:<\/p>\n

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, \u201cLord, he whom you love is ill.\u201d 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, \u00a0\u201cThis illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.\u201d<\/em>5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus<\/strong><\/span>. 6 So<\/strong><\/span>, when he heard that Lazarus1 was ill, he stayed<\/strong><\/span> two days longer in the place where he was<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like the family of Lazarus my friends and family have been asking for Jesus to intervene in my situation. We have been praying for healing. And Jesus response, like it was for Lazarus is to wait. \u00a0<\/strong>I thought therefore that I would share today with you an updated version of a set of notes I used to preach on this story eight years ago.<\/p>\n

Some of the most mysterious words in the Bible are in this short passage. If \u00a0we were writing it we would have said something like \u201cAnd Jesus heard that his friend was sick so he instantly healed him using his miraculous powers which we know do not require him to be in the same place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet BECAUSE<\/em> Jesus loved them he waited.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I know that I can also say because Jesus loves me he has not healed me yet. \u00a0<\/strong>Make no mistake, I do believe that God heals supernaturally. And I have written previously about steps we can all take when we are seeking healing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But I cannot escape the fact that so far Jesus has not healed me, and hence it is now time to turn to medical treatment, all the while trusting that the God who can heal in an instant also heals through the wisdom of doctors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why would Jesus make his friends wait?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why do we have to wait too?<\/p>\n

Why would Jesus allow suffering and sometimes allow it get worse?<\/p>\n

We are not told directly in this passage. But we can infer from what comes two things.<\/p>\n

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  1. Only by waiting will the glory that will come out of this situation be revealed<\/strong>. John has carefully selected a series of miraculous signs that Jesus performed which demonstrated who he was. This one, a physical resurrection, is the culmination and crown of those that have gone before.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There is a glory that is shown by how we handle suffering also. It is easy to\u00a0pretend to be a faith-filled Christian when things are going well.\u00a0 When suffering or \u00a0death comes knocking at our door it is the time we honour Christ more than any other. It doesn\u2019t always feel that way. Often in our struggles we feel like we have been doing badly. Sometimes our families and friends would agree with that assessment! \u00a0Suffering can make us cranky, bring out the worst in us, and cause our faith to falter. But whilst we are shaken, we are not ultimately destroyed<\/a>. \u00a0And there is no better testimony than the Christian clinging stubbornly onto hope when their situation is telling them to give up<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    2.\u00a0Only by waiting can the situation refine us as Jesus intends.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Jesus loves us as we are but he loves us too much to leave us as we are. We may remember the story of Mary and Martha found in Luke 10:38-42. Martha misses in that encounter the One Thing which is truly to know<\/em> Jesus.<\/a>\u00a0In her business Martha missed out on the most important person. Yet as we shall see later on, this later story in many ways is all about her. Mary, who was the hero of the other encounter, will hang back and allow Martha to have her own personal encounter with Jesus which will no doubt change the rest of her life. \u00a0In the midst of suffering Jesus wants to meet you and I too. \u00a0Mary already knew loving Jesus was the main thing. For Martha it took loosing her precious brother to come to the same place. Sometimes it is only when we loose things that are precious to us that we learn what it is that is MOST precious.<\/p>\n

    \u201cYou may never know that JESUS is all you need, until JESUS is all you have.\u201d\u00a0\u2015\u00a0attributed\u00a0to\u00a0<\/span>Corrie ten Boom<\/span><\/h1>\n

    If we allow Jesus to work deeply in us, eventually we will say \u201cIt was good for me that I was afflicted\u201d<\/a>\u00a0There is much soul work that can only be done in the furnace of suffering. But of course we must never think that suffering itself is a good thing. It really isn\u2019t. \u00a0God works through bad things round for our good. We therefore thank him IN every situation but not FOR every situation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    All this is something of a mystery and we are still in the introduction to this story which is surely simultaneously one of the most surprising and yet glorious in the whole Bible. In fact as someone facing a sickness which has forced me to confront my own mortality, this is probably the<\/em> most precious story in the whole Bible except Jesus\u2019 own death and resurrection. <\/strong>In fact in John\u2019s\u00a0narrative this story of Lazarus is really the introduction to the Passion narrative which starts the very next chapter, when after an interlude Jesus returns to Bethany and out of her deep love and gratitude for Jesus anointed him with a perfume the smell of which no doubt stayed with him throughout the events that led to his death.<\/p>\n

    Before we move on from this introductory paragraph there is something we must not miss. Jesus gives his disciples \u00a0a subtle spoiler in this introduction to the story which they seem to have missed<\/p>\n

    \u201cThis illness does not lead to death. \u201d<\/em><\/h2>\n

    We like to pretend death won\u2019t happen to us, or at least not before our time. \u00a0This passage confronts us with the harsh statistic that one out of one people dies.\u00a0 The whole Bible confronts us with it \u201cand then David died\u201d \u201cAnd then Abraham died\u201d etc. One day YOUR name will be added to that list.<\/p>\n

    We will see in this whole passage Jesus\u2019 response to the biggest problem we all face. \u00a0Death has touched and will touch all of us. \u00a0It brings sorrow<\/a>. \u00a0It is an alien invasion into a world which God intended to be a good.<\/p>\n

    To the Christian even if we do die, our story does not end there as we will see later in this amazing story of Lazarus.<\/p>\n

    The doctors have assured me that I am not facing a major risk of imminent death<\/strong>, and that the treatments they are offering are almost certain to make a big difference. So I am laying hold of that promise that this illness will not lead to death as being for me in the here and now. \u00a0Sometimes the promises of God are fulfilled in our lives right now. \u00a0But sometimes they will only be ultimately fulfilled when Jesus returns to transform our World and wipe away ALL tears. We live in the already but not yet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    But we are allowing the spoiler to let us get ahead of ourselves. \u00a0Now would be a good time for us to pause a moment, and read the whole story:<\/p>\n

    John 11 \u2013 Lazarus death and resurrection\u00a0<\/a><\/h1>\n

    I don\u2019t want anyone reading this article to miss the raw emotion and compassion that this story portrays. \u00a0Sadly we can become overfamiliar with Bible accounts such that they no longer profoundly move us as they ought. \u00a0I find sometimes that good worship music is the perfect antidote to this spiritual apathy and the hardness of my own heart.<\/p>\n

    I urge you then to listen to this song which gloriously captures the essence of this amazing story. \u00a0It was co-written by Simon Brading and Graham Kendrick. You may find tears begin to fall. \u00a0They did for me this morning. I include the lyrics to enable you to mediate on this for a moment. \u00a0Pray and ask God to soften your heart to hear what it is he would say to you today.<\/p>\n