Two Days - John 4:1-42; John 11:1-44

“Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

Jesus took a detour to a northern town to meet an otherwise-very- intelligent woman with a major weakness: men. With great LOVE and no judgment, Jesus points out that she has been married and divorced five times and is living with a man who is not her husband (this in a culture where adultery was punishable by stoning). Jesus showed no signs of being shocked, nor judging her, nor shaming her. Quite the opposite. Shunned by her village as unclean, Jesus met her and drank from her cup.

Jesus risked his reputation in order to restore hers. He saw her desperate need for LOVE and revealed her flawed attempts at getting it. She pointing out the extent of the divide between them: a woman and a man, a sinner and a Rabbi, a Samaritan and a Jew. Jesus knew already – his entire point was to show that LOVE spans such divides. He told her clearly, “I am the one you’ve been waiting for.” She ran to tell the whole town about him. Jesus delayed all other plans to stay in her town for two days. She got what she’d always wanted but what no other man could ever give her enough of: perfect LOVE.

By contrast, when Jesus heard about the death of one of his best friends, Lazarus, he delayed going and stayed where he was for two days. Perhaps he did it to show that in a world full of faith healers and magicians there’s one trick no one can fake: resurrection. Resuscitation, maybe. But death is final. Game over. Unless your best friend happens to be Jesus, that is. Also delaying going in order to prefigure his own resurrection, Jesus raised Lazarus from his cold, closed tomb on the third day after his death.

But this was no show. It was deeply personal. Jesus knew his delay would increase the pain of those he loved so dearly. John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible: “Jesus wept”. But why weep if you know you’re about to raise someone from the dead? So deep is Jesus’ empathy for us that just because he knows there will be rejoicing in the end, it doesn’t stop him being deeply moved by our grief and suffering in the present moment. That’s what LOVE is like. Perhaps too, as Jesus saw the grief caused by Lazarus’ death, he glimpsed the terror his own death would bring to those who loved him – the “sword that will pierce your heart too,” that had been prophesied to his mother, Mary.

LOVE is there with us in our deepest pain. LOVE knows our pain, shares our pain, and feels our pain. But LOVE also knows the end, that every tear will be wiped away and all of creation made new (Revelation 21:4). LOVE elevates us with the hope of new life. Follow Jesus and know that death is not the end of the story, but just a new beginning.

Pray today for those suffering pain and loss – others and ourselves. Receive LOVE’s comfort and know Jesus weeps with you. Also receive LOVE’s solid hope that one day everything will be put right: we will experience the full, rich Biblical concept summed up by the Hebrew word shalom: LOVE’s blessing, where nothing is broken and nothing is missing. Let’s pray LOVE’s shalom over Bournemouth.

“Jesus said to her [Martha], ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Everyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’” (John 11:25)

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The Final Meal - Mark 14:12-26; Luke 22:24-46

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The Cleansing - Matthew 21:12-17; John 2:13-22