{"id":11256,"date":"2021-10-19T19:00:34","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T19:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?p=11256"},"modified":"2022-03-04T20:00:01","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T20:00:01","slug":"where-were-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2021\/10\/where-were-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Were You?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

What you\u2019re feeling, Mary and Martha felt that too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their brother had died over the course of days. Jesus loved them, loved their brother. They had no doubt of it. They had seen him heal the blind. They knew he had power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They sent word via messenger, but the messenger returned alone. The loving, powerful Jesus wasn\u2019t going to intervene. So their brother breathed his last, and they wrapped him up and stuck him in a tomb. Jesus didn\u2019t even bother to come to the funeral. So the two sisters descended into grief, and questions, and weeping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Jesus finally arrives, Martha says, \u201cIf you had been here, my brother wouldn\u2019t have died.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words: Where were you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And she follows up with a statement of belief: \u201cEven now I know God will give you whatever you ask.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus offers her some hope: \u201cYour brother will rise again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martha recognizes the theological truth about a future resurrection (\u201cI know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day\u201d), but that\u2019s not what she\u2019s looking for. She\u2019s asking about resurrection in the here and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Jesus assures her that the resurrection is not an event. The resurrection is a person. It is Jesus himself. Jesus asks her if she believes him, and she assures him that she does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Mary comes, she knows how Martha feels. She feels that way, too, and she asks Jesus the same thing: Where<\/em> were you? If you had been here, my brother would not have died.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He doesn\u2019t deny it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary weeps, her friends and family weep. Jesus is deeply moved, and troubled. He weeps alongside them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He doesn\u2019t correct them. Doesn\u2019t angrily point out that they should trust him a little more. He weeps with those who weep. He mourns with those who mourn. Even though, in<\/p>\n\n\n\n

his own infinite mind, he knows Lazarus will be standing beside them in moments. Even though, from God\u2019s point of view, death is a temporary state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Mary and Martha were feeling, I felt that too. Our family friend went through four years of cancer <\/a>treatment. Four years of doctors, weeping, medication, and surgeries,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and the whole time, our friend was getting weaker. When we prayed together, she often said\u2014we often said\u2014where<\/em> are you? We know you are good. We know you love us. We know<\/em> you have the power to intervene.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But God didn\u2019t show up, not then, and not four days later. Our friend died, and we\u2019re left with \u201cshe will rise again.\u201d The biggest questions, the hardest moments . . . many of those came after the crisis <\/a>had passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s natural, during times of loss, to ask if God is good. If God is good, if God is powerful, how could the Lord fail to intervene? It\u2019s the cry of Mary and Martha at the loss of their brother: Where were you?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we ask those questions, God doesn\u2019t chastise us for asking the question. He might remind us of our hope (\u201cyour brother will rise again\u201d). But in the end, he will show us not where he was, but where he has been all along. Beside us. With us. Not distant, not angry, not watching in some detached way because of his glory<\/a> or sovereignty or omniscience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We weep, and he weeps with us. Because what we are feeling is normal. Even God feels some of those things, as it turns out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matt Mikalatos<\/span>

\u00a0writes books (surprise!). In the past, Matt worked as a high school teacher and a comic book clerk, but currently focuses on nonprofit work devoted to helping people love one another despite their differences. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, three daughters, two unicorns, a gryphon, a dragon, and three brine shrimp.<\/p>\n

More from this book<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"When<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What you\u2019re feeling, Mary and Martha felt that too. Their brother had died over the course of days. Jesus loved them, loved their brother. They had no doubt of it. They had seen him heal the blind. They knew he … <\/p>\n

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