4th Tuesday of Lent (March 17). Lord, come and see

Prepare to Listen.  The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
 
Prayerfully Read John 11:28-37
28When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”  29And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.  30Now Jesus had not yet come to the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him.  31The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary get up quickly and go out.  They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.  32When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  33When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.  34He said, “Where have you laid him?”  They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”  35Jesus began to weep.  36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”  37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
 
Prayerfully Wonder
Four days after Lazarus’ burial, Jesus showed up.  Martha was the first to see and talk with him.  they talked about resurrection and she made the most complete confession of faith in the Gospels (v. 27).  She went back with a message for Mary: “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
 
Mary, “the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair,”[1] quickly went. She knelt at Jesus’ feet and complained, the same complaint Martha had made (v.21).  Jesus didn’t speak to Mary as he had with Martha.  Instead, he became “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.”  The Greek means “to be angry” or “to feel strongly about something.”[2]  John gives no indication what caused Jesus’ strong emotion or anger.  What do you think caused it?
 
Jesus asked, “Where have you laid him?”  They responded: “Lord, come and see.”  The same invitation Jesus gave to the first two who followed him (1:46).  This time, the people invited Jesus: “Lord, come and see.”
 
Have you ever wanted to ask Jesus to “come and see?”  You can.  Invite him to come and see your struggles, sufferings, sorrows, losses.  We can also invite him to come and see the evil in the nations today.  Come and see and be with us in our trouble.  Invite Jesus, then wait to hear him invite you to come and see.  If you go, he’ll lead you into his light, where you can see more clearly how to respond to your messy situation today.
 
What are you struggling with today?  Name it, and invite Jesus to “come and see,” as you show him all that troubles you.
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord Jesus, you invite us to “come and see,” and you let us ask you to “come and see” what we’re going through.  Please come and see my troubles today and give me courage to hope more fully in you.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Invite Jesus to ‘come and see’ today.
[1] 11:2.  Her anointing story is told in ch. 12.
[2] Neyrey, Jerome H.  The Gospel of John.  New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.  2007, p. 199.