What Love is This?

If you were not already aware, we are currently in the midst of Holy Week. Tomorrow is Maundy Thursday, two days from now is Good Friday, and it all concludes with Easter Sunday (or Resurrection Sunday, whichever one you prefer). At this time of year, we are reminded of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, made on the cross for us at Calvary. Because of Christ's death, we are given the opportunity to repent, believe that He is the Son of God who died for our sins on that cross, and confess Him as Savior and Lord. That gift of love grants us access to an eternity with God. Eternity! We could not achieve that any other way, and had it not been for the love that Christ put on display by offering Himself in our place, we would be hopeless.

That kind of love is simply unfathomable, or it is, at least, to me. It is truly an extravagant love. Now, the stereotypical Easter story is definitely enough to bring you to your knees or even to a place of weeping. This year, more specifically this morning, I found myself on the edge of tears not with the story of the cross, but with the story of the death and resurrection of Lazarus, found in John 11:1-46.

I was simply blown away by the pure love and compassion that Jesus displayed throughout this whole ordeal. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha, and in verse 5 it is made clear to us that Jesus loved each of them. Through an informant, Jesus learns that Lazarus is sick. Being God, Jesus knows the outcome of this as soon as he hears this news (well, actually even before that, but that is beside the point). He tells His disciples immediately that the sickness will not end in death, but rather it will result in the glorification of God. Jesus then purposely waits two more days, and then moves out with his disciples after telling them that Lazarus has "fallen asleep." The man was, in fact, dead, but as far as God was concerned, this was only temporary (hence the choice to describe the situation as having fallen asleep.).

Jesus eventually arrives in Bethany and is greeted by Martha, who was probably either crying or had been crying. Who can blame her? What she says first makes sense: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died" (verse 21). What she says next is truly astounding: "Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You" (verse 22). In the following verses, Christ tells Martha that Lazarus will rise again and that He (Jesus) is the resurrection and the life, and that any who believe in Him will live even if they die. Martha tells Jesus she believes this, and then sends for Mary.

Mary enters the scene visibly weeping, and tells Jesus that had He been there, her brother would not have died. In verse 33, we are told, due to her weeping and those who came to support her who were also weeping, that Jesus was "deeply moved in spirit and was troubled." This is, for the first time in my various times of reading this passage, where I started to really have trouble holding it together. Jesus asks where they have laid Lazarus, to which He is told "Lord, come and see." This is then followed by the shortest verse in the Bible: "Jesus wept" (verse 35). As simple as this verse is, these two words are packed with an incredible amount of love and emotion. In times previous, I read over this without so much as a blink. This morning, I stopped in my literary tracks. "See how He loved Him" was what was said immediately following this moment. I think what really gets me about this is that before arriving at the scene, Jesus knew Lazarus was dead. Nothing changed. He knew everything about the situation. Yet in the presence of His people...in the presence of those who were hurting...Christ hurt with them. 

The love that Jesus displayed in this moment is, in my mind, arguably one of the best moments outside of the cross that illustrates just how much God loves His people. He loves us enough to hurt with us...to weep with us. He was deeply moved then, and I believe without a doubt that He still becomes deeply moved when He sees some of the directions that our lives take. Yet through it all, He boundlessly loves us. This limitless love was truly on display in the sacrifice He made for us on the cross, but at the moment I find it difficult to simply comprehend the love He displayed in John 11:33-35. I just cannot get past "Jesus wept." This extremely real love makes Jesus that much more relatable to us as humans.

What love is this? What kind of love does God have for us that He would be moved enough to weep when He knew that He would ultimately raise Lazarus from the dead and all would be well? It is by far an undeserved and indescribable love. It is the same love with which Christ went to the cross to bear each and every one of our sins. Christ died to make a way for us to eternally know God because He loved us too much to leave us with no way out of eternal separation from Him.

The love of Jesus in the story of Lazarus is simply too beautiful to breeze past. Take a moment to absorb that story. I challenge you, in the midst of the Holy Week story, to not let passages like this one pass you by. It is in moments like those where we can sometimes most tangibly feel the love of God. The moments when we hurt, when we fear, when we feel alone, when we feel hopeless... Jesus loves us too much to let us go through this life without a loving friend. He can be our Lord and Savior, but sometimes the mere fact that He can also be our loving friend to be there when we need Him most can be enough to satiate our souls.

Take a moment to ponder these thoughts, and while you do, perhaps listen to What Love is This by Kari Jobe in the background. Meditate on and drink in the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding.