Encountering Jesus | Resurrecter - John 11:18-44 - Clint Leavitt

This 7th week of our ENcountering Jesus series, we meditate on John 11, where we encounter one of the most powerful narratives in Scripture: the raising of Lazarus. But this isn't just a story about a miracle—it's an invitation to bring our honest grief directly to Jesus. Mary and Martha both cry out the same words: 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.' Their lament isn't doubt; it's the cry of faith wrestling with reality. We learn that our tears are actually the first signs that our faith has a pulse, that we still believe God is good enough to hear us and powerful enough to respond. The passage challenges our American tendency to spiritualize away pain with detached phrases like 'everything happens for a reason.' Instead, we're called to lament—to bring all our anguish before God. This is crucial because the only feelings that cannot be healed are the ones we hide. When we look at Jesus' response, we see something extraordinary: He meets Mary and Martha exactly where they need to be met. With Mary, He weeps. With Martha, He speaks truth about resurrection. Because Jesus is fully God and fully human, He is the perfect counselor who never wounds when we need healing and never withholds truth when we need to hear it. This divine-human nature makes Christianity utterly unique—no other religion offers a God who is both powerful enough to command death and tender enough to weep with us in our pain. The message calls us to channel our grief toward Jesus rather than away from Him, and to let our tears send us to weep with others who are suffering.