Purpose in Our Pain | John 11:28-44

Setting up our passage for today: In Luke 10:41-42 there is an encounter between Jesus, Mary and her sister, Martha. Martha is upset because Mary isn’t helping and she asks Jesus to intervene. Jesus responds by saying; “Martha, you worry about so much, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and I’m not taking it away from her.” How would you have responded to Jesus’ rebuke? Keep that in mind as we look at our passage for today.John 11:28- When Martha had said this, she went and said to her sister Mary, in private; “The teacher is here and is calling for you.” It’s just speculation to try and understand what motivated Martha when she said this. But keeping in mind the story from Luke, and what Martha said to Jesus in verses 21-22, is it fair to speculate that Mary may have been thinking this: “Jesus thinks Mary’s more holy than me. Maybe he’ll listen to her?!”Putting aside all this speculation, let’s focus on some facts: Jesus loved Mary and Martha, both, with every fiber of His being. Just as He loves us! When Jesus answers a request, He does it according to what’s BEST!Jesus is not immune to the pain that His answers to our request may cause. Three times in this passage we find evidence of this: Verse 33- Jesus was deeply troubled… Verse 35- Jesus wept… Verse 38- Jesus was deeply moved…You can trust that the pain and the suffering you’re experiencing has a purpose, too… IF… you will put your trust in Jesus!Message: Purpose in our pain Scripture: John 11:28-44 Simple. Authentic. Jesus. Prairiebible.org