What If It Is Not About You?
February 10, 2019      |     By: Sam McVay, Jr.      |      Category: Sermons      |      Location: El Dorado
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John 11:20-27 (ESV)
20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from 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. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
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?”

Why did Jesus weep?
Was it because this death caught him off guard?
Was it because he lost a friend?
Was it because he saw no hope?

John 11:33 (ESV)
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.

The Greek word for “greatly troubled” is:
Tarasso – to agitate, trouble (a thing, by the movement of its parts to and fro)
a. to cause one inward commotion, take away his calmness of mind, disturb his equanimity
b. to disquiet, make restless
c. to stir up
d. to trouble
e. to strike one’s spirit with fear and dread
f. to render anxious or distressed

I believe Jesus was moved to emotional turbulence and tears because of the pain that Mary was feeling.

It wasn’t his pain because he knew what was about to happen, but he was moved by and felt the broken heart of Mary.

I wonder if Jesus often felt the pain of others?

Multiple times the gospels say: “and he was moved with compassion when he saw....”

Isaiah 53:3 (ESV)
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

I wonder if one of the reasons he had to “often withdraw to lonely places” was because he was overwhelmed by the pain and sorrow of those he was around?

What if your unsettledness and troubled-ness is not all about you?

What if you are sensing others’ pain either literally or as a motivation to engage in prayer for them?

Hebrews 4:15 (ESV)
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Could he be making us sympathizing “low priests”?

What if we did not make all of our feelings about us, but about others and about the glory of God?

What if we used pain, trouble, and trials as personal motivation for prayer and ministry for others?

What if it is not about You?