Love is a powerful emotion. It can cause the strongest of men to melt when the one they love desires something of them. It can cause a mom to keep a handmade card from her child forever. It can enable a spouse of many years to physically take care of a sick loved one until the day they die. They find strength where there is none. It is the most powerful emotion guided by the greatest decision anyone can make. It was demonstrated best by God giving His only Son because He loved us! The power of love is a dominating emotion.
While we were His enemy, he commendeth, which means “He demonstrated,” His love to us through the death of His Son. The power of the Father’s love sent His Son to the cross.
Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The power of love can make us cry and feel sorrow when those we love are hurting. It moves us to sympathize with the hurting. It challenges us to do more for those who can’t help themselves. It is the greatest emotion that is guided by a decision on earth and Heaven. In John 11:35, Jesus, God in the flesh, wept. His friend Lazarus had died. Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, had sent for Jesus to come because Lazarus was sick. The depth of their relationship is revealed in how the sisters referred to Lazarus when they sent for Jesus. In verse 3, they referred to Lazarus as “he whom thou lovest is sick.”
John 11:3-5 “Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.”
There was no doubt about the love this family had for Jesus, or that He had for them. They had spent time together. Jesus had stayed in their home and had eaten at their table. Now, they had a need. They wanted Jesus to come and heal their brother. They did not doubt the healing powers of Jesus. On purpose, Jesus did not arrive until Lazarus was dead for four days. This may seem cruel that He would allow them to suffer when He could change the circumstances, but there was something greater that Jesus was teaching them. Yet, we find Jesus weeping at the death of His friend. Jesus knew He would raise Lazarus from the dead, but He was moved to tears because He saw those He loved hurting.
John 11:35 “Jesus wept.”
Why did Jesus allow them to suffer for days? I think verse 40 gives us the answer. There is a greater glory given to God when a man is raised from the dead, than if he is healed. Because of this miracle, many of the Jews who were there with Mary and Martha believed in Jesus that day. God’s love was made known in a way that spread throughout the region.
John 11:40 “Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?”
John 11:45 “Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.”
God’s love doesn’t look the way the world imagines love. God’s love is pure and holy. It will always do what is best for us even when we don’t understand. Sometimes He must chastise us to get our attention to keep us from going further away from Him. He knows the future and desires for us to stay close to Him to spare us from further pain. When my boys were young, many times my love required me to discipline them. If the punishment didn’t change the behavior, the punishment would get stronger until they learned obedience. Obedience kept them from wandering into areas of life that could be painful or deadly. Did the punishment look like love to those looking on? Probably not, but when we zoom out and look at life from a different perspective, we can see the love in the punishment. We can see the power in love that protects, endures, sympathizes, and seeks the righteousness of God.
