“If you had just been here, this wouldn’t have happened.”  Words spoken individually by two sisters, friends of Jesus, whose brother had just died.  They knew that Jesus could have prevented Lazarus from dying if He wanted to.  He had the power.  He knew that Lazarus had been sick.  Why had He delayed His trip back to see him?  Why didn’t He DO something?

By all appearances, it would seem that Jesus was being passive in this situation.  Hearing of Lazarus being ill didn’t seem to upset Him.  Even hearing of his death did not rattle Him.  He already knew it.  He was fully aware of the situation.  But He had a plan.  It didn’t seem to make sense from an outside perspective, but He knew exactly what He was doing.

Still, when Jesus saw the grief of Martha and Mary (the sisters) and those that loved Lazarus, He was moved to tears.  He wept.  Not because Lazarus was dead.  He was about to raise him from the dead.  Jesus’ grief was for the pain that that death had caused others.  He deeply loved these people.  To see them hurt and hopeless broke His heart.  And “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)

With the horrid reality of the shooting that just happened here in Colorado, I could not shake off the image of Jesus weeping.  To see us, His children, in this broken world with these kinds of things happening – senseless, horrible things – must break His heart. He must long to rescue us from this place and bring us home to heaven.

But isn’t there a part of us that, like Lazarus’ sisters, says, “If you would have been here this wouldn’t have happened”?  Or “why did you let this happen?”  We know He has the power to stop it, so why didn’t He?

I don’t pretend to understand the vastness of God’s mind or plan, but I do trust that He has one.

Last night, I read a post from a man whose uncle’s life was saved because he received lungs from one of the victims of the Aurora shooting.  I couldn’t help but think how that resembled what Jesus did for Lazarus.  He brought life from death. He brought hope from devastation.  Joy from sorrow.

We live in a very broken world.  We are very broken people, marred by bad choices, hurt and dysfunction.  So many times we are paralyzed by the question of  “Why don’t you do something, God?”

The truth is He IS doing something.  He weeps with and for us with an all consuming love that we can’t even come close to fully understanding.  And in and through that love, He has a plan.  He is at work to bring purpose to the pain.  To bring beauty from these ugly, dirty ashes.  He can and He will and He is.  Just watch and see…

(Lazarus’ story is in John 11)