Untangle Your Emotionsናሙና

“The Comfort of a Burden Shared”

One of the most emotional moments in Jesus’s life was after the death of His good friend Lazarus. Days after His friend passed, Jesus arrived at the home Lazarus shared with his two sis­ters, also good friends of Jesus. Martha was angry, and she let Him know it: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21).

How many times have we been angry at God but scared to say so?

Jesus did not shame Martha. He comforted her and issued a greater hope than an earthly healing: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (verse 25).

He comforted Martha with the hope that only He could give. Then He came to Mary, the other sister of Lazarus, and she fell at His feet, weeping. Scripture says Jesus named that He was deeply troubled and moved by the weeping of Mary, and He wept with her.

This is the only human who ever walked the face of the earth who actually had the power to solve the problem of death, both in the moment and for eternity. And yet Fix-It Jesus did not show up here. Feel-It Jesus showed up and wept with His friend who was weeping.

Why?

He knew He would raise Lazarus from the dead. He knew He would fix the problem both temporarily and eternally for all of them. Yet, in Martha’s anger and Mary’s grief, Jesus did not cor­rect them; He comforted them.

In this scene, He models for us what it means to live out Paul’s instruction to “rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15). Something about mourning with those who mourn helps when nothing else can and nothing else will. And Jesus knew that.

Who can I safely share my feelings of hurt with? Who might like to share their painful feelings with me, if I signaled that I was open?