There’s so many things in this world that don’t make any sense to me. It’s hard for me to even consider these things now as write because I will wrestle with them for the rest of my life. I just want to immediately be honest about that. I’m talking about stories that make your stomach churn and your heart feel weak. For example: why is it that there are toddlers with terminal illnesses? I can barely stand to look at a sweet little kid lying in a hospital bed with all sorts of medical tubes and cords everywhere. When I was a kid I played outside without a care in the world-- doesn’t every little one deserve that kind of life? And why is it that people who, by worldly standards of course, generally live a good life but then lose their entire family to an accident while they’re at work. Why do marriages fall apart, why is there so much global injustice, why does war take the lives of innocent people- it just doesn’t make sense. The bible is not quiet about these topics either.

The book of Job starts out with something along the lines of, “Now Job was the most righteous man in the land,” yet everything in his life turns upside down. His children are brutally killed, his possessions are destroyed, and he develops a terrible disease. When his friends come to comfort him they don’t speak for three whole days because the weight of his grief can be felt. There are no words to describe the anguish radiating off the poor man’s countenance.

There’s also the more subtle things that people cannot see as easily, like debilitating depression and anxiety or even loneliness. I just have a hard time with these things. I used to feel like I had all the answers. I used to think that “all things work together for the good of those who love Him” was all you had to say to someone who’d just watched their three-year-old slowly and painfully die from cancer or to someone who just tried to end their life because they feel hopeless. But I know now that it’s not that simple. These things can’t be ignored, and we need to allow ourselves to really feel the weight of these things and to really spend time wrestling with God about how to reconcile these things with His goodness. The great thing about God is that He isn’t afraid of our confusion, pain, or even our anger. He is compassionate and caring, and even invites us to ask these hard questions. He wants to show us who he is in these hard moments. We see this really clearly in the story of Lazarus, Mary and Martha.

This is a familiar story that most people know in which Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Essentially, Mary (the same one who cried to Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair) and Martha sent word to Jesus that their brother Lazarus was sick and that he needed healing. He informs them that his illness “will not end in death.” The next verses say something strange. They read, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.”

This made no sense to me as I was first reading it. If Jesus loved them, why on earth would he wait two more days after they requested his urgent help? I felt like it’d make more sense for Jesus to run there immediately to heal Lazarus. But instead he waits, and Lazarus does indeed die from his illness. Jesus then informs His disciples that it is time to go see Lazarus’ family. He says, “Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” His disciples thought that he meant resting or sleeping, but Jesus was talking about his death, so he then told them plainly, “For your sake, I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe.” Now these are important verses. They give us our first glimpse into the reason that Jesus waited to help Lazarus — they “may believe” in Him. Clearly, He has a plan in mind.

So they arrived, and both Martha and Mary expressed their grief and how they wished that Jesus would have made it on time. He goes with them to Lazarus’ tomb and everyone is in agony. Mary, Martha, and many others who came to grieve with them are crying. It then says that when Jesus saw their distress He was “deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled.” He then wept with them as they stood where Lazarus lay dead. Jesus, however, keeping his promise that the sickness would not end in death, raised Lazarus from the dead, and many people believed in Jesus then.

This story illuminates clearly the way that Jesus handles our suffering and sorrow. He had a plan all along. He planned to raise Lazarus the entire time. He knew that “many would believe in Him” as a result of Lazarus’ resurrection and that it would glorify Him. He told his disciples before they even left that He was going to “wake him” so that they (and many others) would believe. There’s an incredible outcome to this event, many people experience the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ because of this. It has an unbelievably happy ending. Yet, when Jesus sees the grief and pain of Mary, Martha and the others, he weeps with them.

Why would Jesus cry if he knew that within minutes Lazarus would be alive and well and that many would believe in Him because of it? As previously stated the end of this story is so incredibly joyful. If Jesus knew what was about to happen and what he was about to do, why was he “deeply troubled” and why did he weep with them? This is worth dwelling on, my brothers and sisters. It’s because he loves us deeply and empathizes with us. I can’t answer all the “whys” for why God allows certain things to happen. I honestly have no idea how any of that works. It still doesn’t make sense to me. But here’s what I do know, and here is what we hold on too: Jesus isn’t standing by, cold-heartedly as His plans unfold in our lives. He cares deeply and feels these things with us and walks through them with us. He works out what our ultimate plans are, just like he did with Lazarus, yet if we are hurting and struggling through those plans, though he may not take away the pain for whatever reason, he is moved by it and wants us to know that he is there with infinite compassion, understanding, grace, and love for us in that.

We are invited by the books of Job, Habakkuk, and Psalms and well as this story and many, many others to cry out and express that we don’t get what He’s doing. We are invited to be honest with God and outwardly deal with our doubts, confusion, and agony. He isn’t angry with us when we do that. He doesn’t leave us. He is compassionate and understanding and has nothing but grace. He isn’t out to get anyone in these moments at all.

“For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” 2 Corinthians 1:5

Sometimes, when we are so in agony that it seems as if we are suffering enough for the entire world, I think we are are tasting the sufferings of God on our behalf when Christ became the world’s sin for us, and therefore we are “sharing abundantly in his sufferings.” This should give us radiant hope, because if we share temporarily in his sufferings, we also share in his infinite joy for all eternity because of what He has done for us.

Therefore I do want us to be comforted by Jesus’ reaction to the agony of those at Lazarus’ tomb. I want us to know how he responds to our suffering, not with a cold heart, but a warm heart made of flesh and able to identify with our pain and relate to us in every way because God became a man for us. But I don’t want us to miss the bigger picture, my brothers and sisters, that Jesus Christ is the ultimate life and resurrection-- that is the main point of this story.

This world is currently riddled with misery and pain and injustice, and though we struggle to understand and make sense of it all, we can place our hope in the compassion of Jesus Christ now. But, more importantly, let us not forget that our ultimate hope is that we are in Christ and He is in us. We are heirs with The Resurrection, meaning that we are brethren with the one that causes the dead to come alive for all eternity in His presence. We will partake in the redeemed kingdom for all eternity-- in our redeemed bodies that will one day never experience pain, sickness, etc. again. We have been absolved and no matter the temporary struggles of this day, the coming age will be marked by the eradication of all injustice, pain, tears, sorrow, etc. for all eternity because we will rise again and share in the infinite joy of the one who has already caused the cancellation of all debts against us.

Praise and glory be to the God who suffered for us-- not only to identify with us in our own suffering-- but to allow us to one day never experience anything of the sort again because the cause of all pain and sorrow (sin) has been buried in the grave, never to be spoken of again.