Holding Onto Hope When Grief Feels Heavy (John 11)
Evening Scripture
John 11
Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, 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, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.
Evening Reflection
There’s a verse from 1 Corinthians 15:55 [https://www.biblestudytools.com/1-corinthians/15-55.html] that says, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” As Christ-followers, we know Christ defeated death on the cross and gives us hope for everlasting life with Him for eternity. What good news! Yet, our world and reality of life that we currently know is still very much filled with death. You and I both know, the sting is very, very real.
Our passage tonight gives us the shortest verse in the Bible: “Jesus wept” (John 11:35 [https://www.biblestudytools.com/john/11-35.html]). Even though Jesus knew this story wouldn’t end in death (Jesus stated in verse 4, “This sickness will not end in death”), Jesus still wept. I can’t help but assume Jesus not only loved Lazarus, but wept in compassion for Martha and Mary, and perhaps, for you and me–that the sting of death does indeed still sting. Jesus meets us in our grief. If you’re walking through your own grief, take comfort in this: He’s not rushing you through it or dismissing the ache. He’s right there in it with you.
Let’s take it a step further: you can be completely honest with Him. You can even ask why. Martha deeply loved and believed in Jesus, but still questioned Jesus. She said, “‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died’” (John 11:21 [https://www.biblestudytools.com/john/11-21.html]). Martha shows us we can still believe He can do all things and yet still have heartache over why things didn’t turn out how we expected. Our faith allows a relationship with a real God, where faith and disappointment intertwine.
The darkest part of the story is knowing Lazarus has been dead for four days–completely beyond any human hope. And even when things seemed dark, dead, and done, God was still working. God had a much bigger plan in His perfect timing. Jesus proved His story doesn’t end in death! What an incredible hope!
Holding onto hope, even when grief feels heavy, can feel like a daily fight. The enemy of your soul wants nothing more than to take every ounce of hope you can muster. Don’t give the devil the truth you have: our hope is anchored in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! He’s in grief with you. You can be completely transparent with him. His story doesn’t end in death.
From one human heart to another (who has had a fair share of deep grief over the past few years herself), you’re not alone, and this isn’t where the story ends. Let’s remember tonight, together, that He is a good, good Savior who won’t leave us in our pain. Now that’s a hope worth holding onto!
Evening Prayer
Lord,
I lift up my friend who is carrying their own grief. The truth is, it does sting. Tonight, we surrender the lack of control, the ache of what could have been, and the weight of carrying it. I pray for peace and comfort. I pray for an undeniable and unexplainable deep peace.
For the ache and questioning, we lay it at your feet. For the disappointment and frustration, we lay it at your feet. For the unknowns and questionable future, we lay it at your feet.
Jesus, you are our hope. I pray we wouldn’t confuse hope with expected outcomes. I pray for future testimonies to come from this devotional and for faith to arise. I ask for miracles and agree with and for life. We know your story doesn’t end in death, and we say yes to your power working in and through our lives. In the powerful name of Jesus,
Amen.
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