John 11 shows us how God is both omnipotent and all loving —our undisputed champion—who often allows suffering for reasons associated with eternity.

Now a man named Lazarus was sick.

-John 11:1a

So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’

-John 11:3

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days…

-John 11:5-6

and then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea.

-John 11:7

‘But Rabbi,’ they said, ‘a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?’

-John 11:8

After he had said this, he went on to tell them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.’ His disciples replied, ‘Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.’

-John 11:11-12

So then he told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’

-John 11:14-15

‘Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.’

-John 11:16

Mary and Martha have sent word to Jesus: "Lazarus is sick!"

1. Mary knows precisely how long it will take for Jesus to arrive.

2. Mary and Martha trust and believe that Jesus will arrive in plenty of time to heal his friend (their brother) Lazarus.

When Jesus finally arrives we see the same question asked by 2 different people and Jesus gives two different responses.

‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’

-John 11:21

Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’

-John 11:23-26

Martha’s question: “Why did you not come?”

Jesus’ Response: He gives Martha truth!

Mary’s question: “Why did you not come?”

Jesus’ Response: He gives Mary tears!

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.’

-John 11:32

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked. ‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied. Jesus wept.

-John 11:33-35

wept: dakruo; mourning, weeping and wailing

The reaction is startling because Jesus moves into this situation with two things you and I don’t have.

1. He comes in knowing why it happened and what He is about to do.

2. He has power that we don’t.

Yet, Jesus still weeps, because he is the Father we have all been looking for. God is not unmoved by our pain, even when He knows everything is going to be ok.

We learn two things from Jesus about suffering:

First. We can never experience healing without both Truth and Tears!

For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

-Hebrews 2:17

We learn something about suffering from the anger of Jesus as well.

He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

-John 11:33b

Greek: to quake with rage.

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.

-John 11:38a

Greek: to roar or snort with anger like a lion or a bull.

What is Jesus so angry about?

One: At the pain, suffering and death sin has caused.

And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

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Two: At the self-righteous attitude by self-righteous people who assume that when bad things happen to others, they probably deserve it.

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, ’Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

-Luke 13:1-5

After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, ‘I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.

-Job 42:7-8

And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

-I Corinthians 12:26 (NASB)

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

-Galatians 6:2

For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

-I Thessalonians 5:9-11

We learn two things from Jesus about suffering:

Second: People need both encouragement and vision.

Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’

-John 11:23-26

Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!” Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’

-Revelation 21:1-5

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

-1 Corinthians 15:20

But someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?' How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead...

-1 Corinthians 15:35-42a

I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage … In the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, of all the blood they’ve shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened with men.

-Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

‘Gandalf!’ he cried. ‘I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?’

-J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

The answer of Jesus is, “Yes.”

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ‘Take away the stone,’ he said. ‘But, Lord,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.’

-John 11:38-39

Then Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’

-John 11:40

Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’

-John 11:43b

Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’

-John 11: 44b

When he heard this, Jesus said, 'This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.'

-John 11:4

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

-John 11:40

Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

-John 11:45

Your sufferings can be the avenue through which others see the power and the glory of God in your life!

My response to suffering will be determined by my reason for living and my hope in what is to come!

Make a Decision