Where is God?!: Finding God in the Hard Times

 John 11:28-44

²⁸ Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.”²⁹ So Mary immediately went to him.³⁰ Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him.³¹ When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there.³² When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”³³ When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled.³⁴ “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.”³⁵ Then Jesus wept.³⁶ The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!”³⁷ But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”³⁸ Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance.³⁹ “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”⁴⁰ Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?”⁴¹ So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me.⁴² You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.”⁴³ Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”⁴⁴ And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”

John 11:28-44 (NLT)

Job

      To a certain extent we see a similar depiction of God in the story of Job.  Many of us are probably familiar with the story of Job.  Job is a righteous and holy man who is blessed by God.  God and the adversary (Satin) are observing Job, and sure enough, they make a wager of sorts.  The adversary bets God that Job would not be such a devote follower of God, if he lost it all.  So God allows Job to lose all he has.  When Job has finally had enough he confronts God, and the answer he gets is basically, “who do you think you are, I’m God and you’re not”.  I know that Job reveals God’s majesty and sovereignty and that many of you here today find comfort in this story, but I have to be honest, I am bothered by the story of Job.

Most of us know someone who is “at odds” with God because of something bad that has happened to them.  “How could God let so and so die, or let my parents get divorced.”  Perhaps some of us are struggling with this ourselves.  We don’t know where God fits when we are going through difficult times.  Often times we get the idea that God is this outsider in our suffering.  He may be the cause, or he may just sit back and watch.  Either way he seems so indifferent to our plight.

Bruce Almighty

In the movie Bruce Almighty, Bruce, played by Jim Carey, compares God with a mean kid who cooks ants with a magnifying glass.  He states that God could fix his problems in a matter of seconds but would rather pull of his feelers and watch him squirm. 

Is this really an accurate depiction of Gods involvement in our times of hardship?  Is God taking bets about how we will handle tragedy and then putting us though the ringer?  Is God really a mean kid with a magnifying glass?

At this point we must take a step back and return to today’s reading.  For you see you can’t look at Job’s depiction of God without looking at God revealed though his son Jesus Christ.  John chapter 1 states that The Word, that is Jesus, was with God in the beginning, and that Jesus was God.  This is why we believe in a Triune God; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  If Jesus is God, then Jesus’ characteristics revealed on earth are the characteristics of God.  With that in mind, let’s explore today’s passage.

Context of the passage

As we look at the beginning of this chapter we read that Jesus is sent word from Martha and Mary that their brother Lazarus is sick.  Now we learn that Jesus has some history with Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary, of course, anointed his feet, and verse five tells us that Jesus loved all three of the siblings.  In fact, he cares for this man so deeply that he goes back to Judea, whose inhabitants had sought to stone Jesus.  Jesus reveals to his disciples that he already knows Lazarus is dead and that he will raise him from the dead.   Let me say that again, Jesus already plans to raise Lazarus from the dead.

Lazarus indeed dies before Jesus is able to reach him; in fact he has been dead for four days when Jesus arrives.  First Jesus is met by Martha, and then Mary.  Mary and Martha both say the same thing “Lord, if you had been here, my brother, my brother would not have died.”  They say the same thing but they say it very differently.  When Martha says this he tells her that her brother will rise, and goes on to hint of the things to come saying in verse 25 I am the resurrection and the life.  But when Mary says this, and proceeds to weep, as do the others (possibly paid mourners), it deeply moved him and Jesus wept.  In the end Jesus does indeed raise Lazarus from the dead. 

Many will argue (me included), that the Jews were wrong when they equated Jesus tears and sadness with the love of Lazarus.  After all Jesus already planned to raise Lazarus from the dead.  Rather, it should be said that Jesus being moved and caused to weep was a measure of his love for the bereaved sisters.  Even though Jesus knows everything is going to be ok, he still feels great sadness over the pain that Lazarus loved ones are feeling.  This is the ultimate display of love and empathy.  This love is what prompts him to be lead to the tomb, and then to raise Lazarus from the dead.

I believe it is not a stretch to say that just as Jesus wept for Lazarus sisters, so too does God weep for us.  Just as this deep moving that took place within Jesus heart prompted him to act, so too does the deep moving in Gods heart prompt him to act.

I am not promising anyone a miracle, nor am I trying to explain God’s role in suffering.  To the answer, does God care when I suffer, the answer is a resounding yes!

This is what this Lenten season is all about.   For God so loved the world, was so deeply moved for the lost sheep of this world that he sent his one and only son to die and to be raised from the dead in order to make a way for his lost children to be reunited with him.  What role does God play in our suffering?  He suffers with us.  Over and beyond that, He is our savior, maybe not in the exact way that we seek it, but ultimately he is our savior.  Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ God’s love will ultimately overcome his children’s suffering.