John 11:17-35 NASB
So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. [18] Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; [19] and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. [20] Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. [21] Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. [22] Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” [23] Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” [24] Martha said to Him, “ I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” [25] Jesus said to her, “ I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, [26] and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” [27] She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.” [28] When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” [29] And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him. [30] Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. [31] Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. [32] Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” [33] When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, [34] and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” [35] Jesus wept.
Even though when we as believers enter into heaven we will be perfected, there is a way in which we can love Jesus, here on this side, that we will never get to when in heaven. In heaven, there will be no pain, or confusion, or sorrow of any kind, but here in this fallen world there are many times when we experience pain, and sorrow, and live with unanswered questions; so when we love Him during those times, we are offering him something here that we will never get to offer him there. In that sense, I believe that we are able to love him in ways that stir his heart more while here in this fallen world than we ever will be able to in heaven. Our love for him will always ravish his heart, but I’m convinced that when we worship him and love him in our pain, and confusion, it stirs his heart the most.
I believe that’s what happens here in this story when Mary fell at his feet. When Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead for four days, and Martha came out to meet him, but Mary stayed behind in her home. Martha made the statement “If you had only been here earlier our brother would not have died.” Jesus interacted with Martha, and then Martha went back to her home and informed Mary, that Jesus was calling for her. We are told that when Mary heard this, she arose quickly and fell at Jesus’s feet wailing (that’s the proper translation of the word “weeping”), and the grammar indicates that she repeatedly said “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” If you know much about the story of Mary Magdalene, or Mary of Bethany who I believe to be the same person, then you often find her at the feet of Jesus, worshiping him. (Luke 7; Luke 10; John 12; John 20) I believe that is what Mary is doing here at the feet of Jesus. In the midst of her wailing, her pain and her confusion, I believe that she is worshiping her Lord. She,Martha, and Lazarus were probably the closest friends and followers of Jesus had outside of the circle the apostles, and she had seen Jesus heal many people, but he had chosen to delay in coming to Bethany, and as a result her brother had died. She was full of unanswered questions, and her pain was intense, but in the midst of that, she was at the feet of Jesus, worshiping him and loving him. When it says in verse thirty-three that Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, the word “troubled” would be better translated “stirred.”
I know that many people believe that Jesus wept in response to Mary’s sorrow, but I believe that he was so stirred by Mary’s worship in the midst of her unanswered questions and pain, it caused him to weep. Jesus was accustomed to people worshiping him and praising him when He performed miracles on their behalf that removed their pain, but here was someone whom he loved fiercely, and who loved him, worshiping him, while still in her pain and confusion. I believe this is the highest form of love and worship that we can offer the Lord, that we won’t even be able to offer him and we get to heaven. Are you going through something that causes you great sorrow and pain, and you are filled with a lot of unanswered questions about why God has allowed it to happen? If so, will you fall at his feet and worship him there?
Another interesting thing here is that not only was Jesus’s heart stirred to weeping in response to her loving him in her darkest moment, but somehow it moved him to perform his greatest miracle. Somehow, praising Him in the darkness stirs him to act in ways that were only previously imagined by us. What Jesus does, his followers get to participate in, and in raising Lazarus from the dead they experienced a permanent breakthrough; I believe all because a former prostitute, who loved Jesus with all of her heart, worshiped him in the darkness.