John 11:28-37 (ESV)

²⁸ When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. ³⁴ And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus just finished an intense conversation with Martha, whose brother Lazarus had recently died. Though Martha was challenged, she kept her confidence in Jesus and knew that he had a unique relationship with the Father. She believed that Jesus could do whatever he wanted. She then called for her sister, Mary, who had stayed home to mourn. She told Mary that Jesus was looking for her. When Mary heard this, even though it was too late to save Lazarus, she got up quickly to meet Jesus. Those who were mourning with Mary saw her get up and leave, and they followed too. Mary also confronted Jesus about not coming sooner to save Lazarus before he died. Because he “took his time,” Lazarus was dead. Hopefully, Jesus would be more prompt in the future, especially in crucial times. Verse 33 declares that Jesus was “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” The Greek word rendered as “deeply moved” is a strong verb translated elsewhere as “greatly disturbed” or even “welling up with deep anger.” Why was Jesus so mad? Everyone around him was sobbing. Jesus was furious with the result of sin, which is death. If sin had never entered the world, there would be no death. Jesus came to conquer death. Death was our Lord’s enemy.

Jesus did not despair, but he was angry at the pain and suffering death causes for those he loved and all of humanity. Death was not part of God’s original plan. Those around them wondered why Jesus didn’t do something earlier. They knew he had just healed the man born blind. Why didn’t he help Lazarus since he clearly loved this family so much? How often do we respond in the same way? We want God to do what we ask of him, and we want him to do it now. We don’t want to wait. In fact, we can become discouraged while waiting for God’s timing without knowing the reason for his apparent delays. It can seem to us that God doesn’t hear, doesn’t care, or isn’t able to help. But if any of those were true, then God wouldn’t be the God of the Scripture. Let’s trust in God’s perfect timing and not accuse him of being less than he really is. Determine to keep your emotions in line with your theology. Emotions come and go, but God’s character remains intact eternally.