This week’s suggested reading: John 11
This week’s question(s) to ponder: How does fear of man show up in your life? How does the fear of death affect you?
When emotions rise, purposefully pause.
I’ve always thought that John 11:6 was kinda funny. Not in a comedic way. But it’s so opposite of what I would expect to read in the second half of the verse. The verse begins with, “So, when he (Jesus) heard that Lazarus was ill…” (John 11:6a)
What would you expect to read after that first part of the sentence, especially since we just read that Jesus loved and had a personal friendship with Lazarus? Personally, I would think the next part would read something like, “he went with haste to heal him.” Or something along those lines. But instead the text reads, “he (Jesus) stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” What the what?
In my commentary on John 7, I noted, “God’s timing is not our timing. But he’s always on time.” And that remains true in John 11 (and everywhere else always). We see that Jesus doesn’t bow to the worldly pressures of time. He doesn’t react in fear or haste. Instead, he moved on the Father’s timetable.
Obviously we’re not Jesus. But he has empowered us, by his Spirit, to learn to walk more in step with the Father’s timing. And one key way I’ve learned to do that (far from perfectly), is by inserting a purposeful pause in my life, especially when my emotions may be shouting at me.
When our emotions run high, it’s easy to make quick, and sometimes foolish, decisions. That’s why a purposeful pause can help us gain God’s perspective. What is a purposeful pause? Great question. A purposeful pause is choosing not to react out of extreme emotion, instead we pause to first take that emotion to God. We spend time talking to him. We spend time reading his Word. We spend time meditating on his character and his promises. Then we ask for wisdom to know how to react in our situation.
Sometimes he may lead us to boldly speak. And sometimes he may lead us to shut our pretty little mouth. But either way, a purposeful pause can give him space to speak and us ears to hear.
Jesus did not fear man.
Jesus did not fear man. Jesus does not fear man. Jesus will never fear man. Jesus is the Son of God. He is King. And he came to earth, out of love, to rescue mankind from our own demise. He doesn’t fear man.
John 11:7-8 says, “Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’ 8 The disciples said to him, ‘Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?'”
The disciples feared man. They feared the Jews who were seeking to stone Jesus. They even thought they would die with him if they went to Judea. (see John 11:16) But Jesus did not fear man because there was nothing that man could take from him…not even his life.
Which leads me to my next point…
An earthly death cannot separate us from Christ.
We as Jesus followers desperately need to get to the place where we deeply believe this truth. I’m preaching to myself, too. We can get so comfortable here on planet Earth with our retirement plans and constant stream of activities that we forget the eternal. On the other hand, like my daddy used to say, “Some people can get so heavenly focused, they’re of no earthly good.” Some can get so focused on a future heaven, they forget that God’s kingdom has implications now.
I believe Jesus wants to stretch his followers to the place where we don’t live in fear of earthly death, in order that we’d be free to live boldly for him on this planet even if it costs us our physical lives.
This world is not our ultimate home. It’s just not. But it is the backdrop for God’s unfolding story. You and I are living in a brief moment in time on God’s eternal timeline. And he chose you and me to be on this planet right now. It’s in this world, in our brief moments here, where we’re called to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, even if that may mean the ultimate sacrifice. Lord, help us.
The stronghold of our final enemy angered Jesus.
It’s become a bit of a joke. Someone asks, “What’s your favorite Bible verse?” And the smarty pants teenager who can’t remember many verses shouts out, “Jesus wept.” I get it. It’s short and easy to remember. But I’ll be honest. Until I started writing this series, I never really sat down to truly understand this short but powerful verse. Let’s look at it in context. (I’m bolding the text I want to emphasize.)
“33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ 35 Jesus wept. 36 So 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 also have kept this man from dying?’38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.” (John 11:33-38)
On first read, one might assume that Jesus was deeply moved and wept because maybe he had compassion on those mourning, or maybe he was sad that Lazarus had died. In fact, that’s what the onlooking Jews thought. (see John 11:36) But how often in the book of John have the onlooking Jews rightly understood Jesus’ intention? (I’ll answer that: rarely, if ever.)
What’s really interesting is that the Greek word translated “deeply moved” actually means “to snort with anger; to have indignation; to sigh with chagrin.” (see Strong’s Concordance, G1690) And the Greek word translated “greatly troubled” actually means “to stir or agitate.” (see Strong’s Concordance, G5015)
Based on the original text and the whole of this chapter, I believe anger fueled Jesus’ tears. Yes, he loved Lazarus. Yes, he had compassion on the mourners. But I believe the final enemy of mankind, a.k.a. death, angered him in that moment. And he then gave us a glimpse of his ability (and plan) to conquer it once and for all.
John 11:43-44 says, “When he (Jesus) had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.'”
Listen, death is extremely painful. I’ve walked through the death of my dad. I’ve walked through the death of a dear friend. And it deeply deeply hurts. It takes our breath away. It feels like time should stop, like everyone should pause to feel the weight of our world’s loss. And I know from Scripture, and from experience, that God tenderly, compassionately meets us in times of grief to minister comfort to us in ways that only he can.
But death is not the winner. Death does not have the final say. Jesus is greater than death. He defeated death. And one day, when he returns, the sting of death will be no more.
Disclaimer: Words in Red is a devotional blog series created for personal reflection and spiritual encouragement. All writing is original and created solely by the author, Lara Howard—AI was not used in the development of this content. All content in this series is copyrighted and may not be reproduced, distributed, or used without written permission. © Think True Things
