I don’t know about you but I’m realizing just how much I judge everything and everyone. It’s every day, all day for me. I’ve been catching myself judging and then finding myself rationalizing and justifying my actions.
Just the other day, I’m driving in my car and I’m thinking what a terrible driver the person is in front of me. I am assuming they are on the phone because they are going ten miles under the speed limit. I am completely frustrated so I pass them and give them the look. You know the look when you can’t use a hand jester but you want them to know what you think of them.
Or there was the moment somebody in my mid-size group mentioned that their favorite TV show had no redeeming value and they were giving it up. Immediately, I began to think about the series I just spent 24 hours in the last week watching every minute of the last two seasons. Sure, it was a waste of time but my series had a redeeming value because it made me relevant and politically astute I rationalized.
Or there was that moment in the Starbucks when I judged the beautiful young mom with her two year old running through the store like a Tasmanian devil screaming and throwing the freshly drawn chocolate milk down to the ground. While stood there watching the spectacle of humanity, I wondered to myself why doesn’t she get a leash for that child. Now, don’t get me wrong…I am a Dad. I love the wild kids in the world. I identify with them but for a split second I wanted lasso and to know how to hog tie that young wild animal. Of course, I am just kidding. Did I mention I am a Dad?
I thank God every day that my brain and mouth are on occasional disconnected. However, it doesn’t mean my judgments are any less damaging. You see, like theology, our thoughts matter because eventually we will speak our thoughts or act according to what we believe. Lately, it feels like I have a split personality. I’m a doer one day and a prayer warrior the next. Both are important, neither one is the best solution in all situations.
It kind of reminds me of a story of the two sisters in the bible who while related had two entirely separate ways of approaching and dealing with life. Martha was the active one and Mary the contemplative one. If you want to read today’s text, it comes from the gospel of John in the 11th chapter. The story begins with Jesus in a different community getting word from the sisters that Lazarus was really sick. The news is received, acknowledged and Jesus goes on with his routine. After two days, Jesus alerts the posse that its time to go back to Bethany. When Jesus arrives, he is immediately confronted by Martha. The same sister he had rebuked earlier because she was “…worried and upset about many things but few things are needed or indeed only one” (Luke 10:38-39). Martha comes to Jesus to basically say, “You came too late!” To which Jesus responds with, “Do you know who I really am?” Jesus rebukes her doubts and then attempts to give her hope in a fallen world. After Martha returns to Mary to tell her that Jesus has come and wants to see her. (Jesus didn’t say he wanted to see Mary so the blue parakeet for me is why did Martha lie? I surmise it’s because she originally ran out of the house to Jesus without telling Mary. She may have wanted to protect her sister who lived out of her emotions. Or Maybe she wanted to challenge Jesus without Mary’s reaction’s or maybe Martha was just trying to lift up Mary’s spirit by sharing that Jesus cared enough to come). Whatever the reason Martha waited, Mary gets up and runs to Jesus. She echoes Martha’s segments in verse 32, “Lord if you had been here my brother wouldn’t have died.” In this case, Jesus greets her in a much gentler way than he did Martha and is then consumed by her grief for her brother. Then the confirmation kids’ favorite verse comes into view. If you say you can’t memorize any bible verse, than today is your lucky day. In verse 35, “Jesus wept.” Let’s say it together, Jesus Wept.
Congratulations. You have memorized a verse today. The shortest verse in the bible pops up almost without warning. But what does it mean? Why is it there?
• Is it to signal Jesus humanity through this expression of emotion?
• Is Jesus weeping because of his empathy for the sisters’ grief?
• Is Jesus weeping because he knows he is about to recall his friend from a place that exists without pain and that Lazarus will have to pass through the veil between the spiritual and physical world again down the road?
• Is he weeping because he knew this miracle would be sealing his fate with the powerful Pharisees? Does he know this will solidify the opposition’s determination to have him killed?
All are plausible and all may be right. The best answer to the question takes into account a phrase used before and after the observation. In versus 33 and 38, the root Greek word for the English words “deeply moved” reflects an emotion of annoyance or irritation. It also could be “he snorted in disgust” or Tim Keller suggest it means “to bellow in anger.” The ESV commentators believe the Greek word that is only used in this passage reflects being stern or scolded. All of which brings us to why Jesus wept. Jesus is angry because death represents the final enemy. 1 Cor 15:26 states: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” In it, judgment occurs and for some that means eternity lost. Jesus does not want this to happen and it is the reason he came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).
When you are sick, you want a doctor, not a medical book or a formula. When you are being sued, you want a lawyer not a law book. When you’re faced with the last enemy, death, you want a Savior, not a doctrine but a loving, caring God who promises eternity and then delivers.
Martha and Mary thought and felt they knew what the best was for their brother. Martha and Mary wanted to avoid the pain entirely. They judged pain and death as something to be avoided at all costs. Jesus showed how short sighted that was. Martha and Mary judged Jesus for not coming sooner. Jesus demonstrated he always arrives at the perfect moment. Martha was consumed with doing what was good and right. She judged Jesus by his actions prematurely. Mary judged the world and Jesus by her emotions. Jesus demonstrated that neither is wrong, only human and shortsighted. Jesus wanted the world then and now to evaluate with the big picture, that God’s will is playing out, in mind.
So the question we must ask at this point is the same one the neighbors were asking and judging Jesus, why didn’t he come sooner and stop the whole scene for playing out?
The answer is simple – love. Jesus did not come to spare us from this life but to save us. He came to invite us to participate in His loving will and to provide for us with a loving heart. He didn’t come with a sword in his hands but nails. He didn’t come to bring judgment, he came to bear it! He didn’t come for Lazarus right when we (the neighbors and bystanders) thought he would but he came when the Glory to God would be at its highest. He came when the people of his day would be transformed by the sign before them. As Tim Keller states in his book, Encounters with Jesus, He became human, mortal, vulnerable and killable out of love for us.
When we Judge God by our own definition and limited understanding, we make God small, strip Him of his power and remove his grace and mercy from our lives. We diminish his work on the cross and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This week as you go from this place, no matter where you are, no matter what you are struggling with avoid judging the people, the places or the actions until you are sure you have seen God at work and are willing to join in.
https://communitycenter.life/rev-robert-butler-info
