Suffering to Hope

John 11:28-37 New International Version (NIV)

28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then 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 have kept this man from dying?”

Thursday - April 2 - Read John 11:28-37

In verse 37 Jesus sees the suffering and sorrow of Mary and the others and

he is “deeply moved.” Another way of translating this Greek word is that he

was “indignant.” Here is how Merriam-Webster defines “indignant”:

“feeling or showing anger because of something unjust or unworthy.” In

other words, Jesus is angry and annoyed by death! His is hopping mad that

people he loves are suffering. He cannot stand that sin, death and the devil

are holding people captive. I love this verse because it reminds me that

Jesus is not at all happy about the suffering of this world and that he has

come to do something about it! Instead of letting the world just waste away

and die he came and die for us to do what we could not: rise again! In every

dark time and every place of suffering there is hope in Jesus Christ.