My third revelation, at least for this series, is the story of a woman whose love for Jesus almost destroyed her…. but let me not run ahead of myself. 

It’s the story of Mary of Bethany in three parts…she listened…she lost…and she learned!

There was one place outside Jerusalem that became a haven for Jesus…the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus…in Bethany. He and His disciples were always welcome there. The responses of the siblings to His presence were always the same…Martha served…Mary sat…and Lazarus? Not there, it seems!

Mary loved to listen to Jesus. Protocol aside, even among the disciples,  she sat as close to Him as she could…at His feet. She drank in His words…loving His teachings from Torah… absorbing His messages about God’s kingdom…and, despite Martha’s protests, Jesus approved. He gently rebuked Martha for her resentment towards her sister for not sharing her labour in the kitchen. Mary was in the best place, doing the best thing…listening and learning at Jesus’ feet. 

Mary was learning  to love Jesus…passionately…as much as her understanding of Him would allow her. He could do anything. She believed in Him…even when tragedy struck. Her “baby brother”, Lazarus, became deathly sick. Jesus would come and heal him when they called. Of that she was certain. Lazarus would be well again…the crisis behind them…and life would go on with the memory of a miracle under their belt…so she believed. 

It didn’t happen that way. Yes, the sisters did call Jesus…urgently… “Come quickly. Lazarus is dying!”…but He didn’t come. Not then…not the next day…or the next day…until it was too late! Lazarus faded, then took his last breath. Lazarus was gone…and Jesus didn’t come! Why? 

Mary was devastated…shattered…destroyed! She wept until she had no more tears…for Lazarus, but even more…for her own disillusioned, broken heart. She had trusted Jesus…but He didn’t come! Why? Why didn’t He come? Didn’t He care? Where was He? Her entire being shut down. She fell into a dark hole of hopeless despair. 

When Jesus finally arrived…four days later…she didn’t want to look into His face. She didn’t even want to see Him. She shut herself up in her room and refused to come out. Nothing mattered any more. Lazarus was dead…and Jesus didn’t come!

Finally, in her pit of darkness, she heard them calling…” Mary, come! Jesus is calling for you!” She kept hearing the same words, “Mary, come…” until the sound penetrated her thick fog. She moved…slowly at first…and then…she ran…not because she wanted to see Him but because she wanted to tell Him how much He had hurt her. 

Her bitter words of rebuke tumbled from her lips…”If only you had come, my brother would not have died!” In those few words, Mary said it all. “I trusted you but you have destroyed my trust. I listened to you but now…your words are empty and meaningless.  Why did you do this to me…to us?”  

Jesus wept…the shortest verse in the Bible but in it, a world of revelation. Many have offered explanations for Jesus’ reaction…He cried in sympathy with Mary… He wept because the one He loved was dead…and so on. 

However, if we put Jesus’ reaction in context, a different reason emerges. Scripture records three occasions when Jesus wept. He wept over Jerusalem because of what was coming on the city and its people…and they had no idea of what would soon happen.  He wept in Gethsemane…over the ordeal He was facing. Why? Perhaps because He was aware that He of the possibility that He could fail. 

Then He wept in Bethany. 

Each time Jesus wept, it was not about Himself or His own pain. It was grief for another’s suffering. Why? Was it because, if they would only trust Him, His presence would make all the difference? 

On His way to the cross…the heavy crossbeam weighing Him down until He collapsed in the dirt under its weight,  blood dripping from His mashed flesh after the flogging…He stopped…

“A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women. But Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭23‬:‭27‬-‭28‬ ‭NLT‬‬

No, Jesus did not weep for dead Lazarus. He did not weep for Mary’s loss.  He wept for Mary’s faithlessness. Mary had abandoned the only thing that could have held her steady in her time of sorrow…her trust in Jesus. Instead, she accused Him, blamed Him for her loss, dismissed Him for His failure…and cut herself off from her only hope. 

What does Mary’s reaction to Jesus say to us…to me in any time of testing? This lesson has stuck with me…speaking loud and clear when I face impossible situations…Let Jesus finish what He started!! 

God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit NEVER do anything in my life without a purpose. God is ALWAYS intimately involved in the details of my life. Do I really believe that? If I do, then I must let Him finish what He started before I have an emotional meltdown. 

I think that Jesus wept because Mary put herself into an emotional “black hole” when she could have waited long enough to allow Him to write the whole story…to its conclusion. Bottom line…she did not trust Him. 

Is this not the worst that we can do to God? Unbelief still causes our God sorrow! The Bible is littered with expressions of God’s pain because His people refused to believe Him…refused to obey Him until He finally abandoned them to their enemies. He did it…not because He wanted to punish them…but because He had no other option. 

 If our faith in God is so precious to Him that He tests us repeatedly, surely then we should allow Him to finish what He starts without judging Him before we fall apart when the trial comes. 

“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

To be concluded