Welcome to the daily disciple podcast, where we seek daily to be with and to become like Jesus, our teacher. Good morning everyone and welcome to the daily together on mission podcast. This is Travis and it is good to be with all of you. It really is.
We're journeying through the Gospel of John, doing some meditations in the Gospel of John. So grab your Bible, I've got my cup of coffee, I'm in my spot and I'm going to ask a question and read a passage in the Gospel of John. We're going to think about it and meditate on it, have a time of prayer and then as we've been doing for a long time now, let's continue that conversation with Jesus throughout the rest of the day. And so the title of the podcast this morning is Entering Pain.
And the question is, what are those around you grieving right now? And not where are you grieving? Because we tend to go there quickly. But those around you, a friend, a co-worker, a child, an adult child, a grandchild, a boss, a parent.
What are those around you grieving right now? What are they missing? What's hurting? What feels like loss to that person?
How are they grieving? And maybe we haven't thought about that question quite often enough. And honestly, we tend to think about ourselves, but how often do we really spend time thinking about what that person is grieving or how they're hurting? And I'll bet when we ask that question, how are they grieving that an answer comes pretty quickly?
Because it's usually pretty obvious because we're around them and we see them and we know their story and we know what's happening. And then here's the real question I think that the passage brings us into, are we willing to go there with them, to dwell there, be there in that space, to sacrifice and to grieve with those that are grieving. That's the question. So let's wrestle with that for just a moment.
And we're going to enter into the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, John Chapter 11. It's a pretty famous story. Jesus is traveling around, ministering, preaching, feeding crowds, doing miraculous signs. And he hears that his friend Lazarus is sick.
And he stays where he is for a bit of time and Lazarus dies. And finally he gets to Lazarus' house days later. And we pick up reading in John Chapter 11, verse 32. When Mary reached the place of Mary's Lazarus' sister, where Jesus wasn't Psalm, she fell at his feet and said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Where have you laid him? Jesus said. Well come and see, Lord, they replied.
And Jesus wept. And then the Jews said, see how Jesus loved Lazarus. And the story continues and you may know the story. It's miraculous.
Jesus tells Lazarus to come forth and he raises him from the dead. And it's an incredible story and it's a miraculous sign. And it's amazing. And sometimes we move so quickly to the miraculous sign, which of course is fun, that we miss this moment that Jesus and Mary had together while Lazarus was still dead.
And what we see is Jesus going there, entering into Mary's pain, even though it seems that Jesus knows that he's going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Yet nonetheless he enters into her pain. He begins to go where she is. And I think it's true that often the door into our own pain is compassion for the pain of other people.
And sometimes, and we might need to think about this for just a bit this morning, we shy away from entering into others pain because we know it's the door into our pain. And sometimes we just don't want to go there. But it's not only a freeing thing to do. It's a supremely loving thing to do.
And it's something that we see Jesus doing right here in this incredible story. He enters into her pain, her grief, and the mourning of this family. And I don't know if this is the right word, but it's dangerous to enter into other people's pain. When we do, we find people in very raw places.
Sometimes they can lash out. In fact, I'm not sure how much heat was on this comment. But when Mary finds Jesus, she says, well, if you had been here, he wouldn't have died. That feels like a little bit of blame.
Like Mary is blaming Jesus for the death of her brother. But notice Jesus doesn't take offense because it's not about Jesus' offense. It's about Mary's pain. Isn't it often too much about us and our offense and not enough about others and their pain?
And then it says that Jesus wept and they looked at Jesus weeping and they said, wow, see how he loves them. And one of the things that I'm noticing in this story is I'm kind of talking through it with you guys this morning is that Jesus was not a stoic. He didn't minimize pain. He didn't dismiss other people's pain like we often do or the church often does or our family of origins often did.
We do tend to minimize to think other people's pain is silly or over-emotional or not worth entering. But the bottom line is that Jesus didn't do that. He went there right in the midst of people's pain and he heard with them. And it's sacrifice to do what Jesus is doing here.
Go there with Mary to weep with her. It's sacrifice because we want to keep things up and happy. And it's sacrificial to go there and to weep with those that weep and mourn with those that mourn. But it's supremely relational and it's incredibly freeing.
And when we see Jesus doing this, it actually gives us a new view of God, a true view of God, because when we encounter Jesus, we're encountering who God is and what God is about and Jesus knew what Mary needed and do we know what those around us need. Sometimes people just simply need us to validate the pain, to enter into that space, to hold that space, to not minimize, to not dismiss, to listen, to ask questions, to seek to understand. And this is a great opportunity and maybe the best opportunity to deepen the relationships that we love the most. We all want deep relationship, but we don't always want to go by the way that will achieve that deep relationship.
Sometimes we must go where we don't want to go in order to actually go where we truly want to go. So let's look at this passage this morning. Let's pray. Let's read it.
Let's enter into it. And today let's enter into the pain of those around us. Why are they hurting? Where does it hurt?
How can we enter that space with them and validate and not rush and be there and maybe discover our pain as well? And what that will do to relationship will be extraordinary. And we'll talk soon. Thanks for listening to the daily disciple podcast.
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