From another incident in the story of Mary of Bethany, we shall learn another lesson in the story of love. If in Luke 10 we have seen how love is maintained in the common round of life, in John 11, we shall learn how love is deepened in the sorrows of life. There life was flowing in its usual channel; here the everyday life is arrested by a great sorrow. Sickness has invaded the Bethany circle, and the shadow of death is creeping over the home. In the trial that has overtaken them, how will the sisters act? Moved by grace they take the best possible course. They draw upon the love of Christ. In Luke 10 Mary is learning the love of Christ in the calm of a quiet life; in John 11 she is drawing upon that love amid the storms of life. There she enjoyed His love in His company; here she uses His love in her sorrow. All this is written plainly in the appeal that these devoted women make to the Lord. They send to Him saying, "He whom Thou lovest is sick" (v. 3). How brightly the faith and confidence in the Lord of these two sisters shines out in this brief message. They turn to the right Person, for they "sent unto Him." They use the right plea, for they say, "Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick." They plead not the feeble love of Lazarus for the Lord, but the perfect and unfailing love of the Lord for Lazarus. So too they appeal to the Lord in the right way, for they do not suggest what the Lord shall do; they neither ask the Lord to heal, nor to come, nor even to speak a word on their behalf. They simply spread out their sorrow before the Lord and cast themselves upon the boundless resources of unbounded love. Will love disappoint them? Ah! no; for love delights to respond to the appeal of hearts moved by love.
However, love divine will take its perfect way, a way indeed that to mere nature may seem passing strange. The sisters have delighted His heart by drawing upon His love; now He will delight their hearts by deepening in their souls the sense of His love, and thus deepening their love for Him. For it is ever thus, the deeper the sense of His love, the deeper will be the response of our love. We love Him because He first loved us.
To accomplish His gracious work He will use the sorrows of life; and, that His love may be deepened in our souls, He will first deepen the sorrow. The saints are called to the glory of God after they have "suffered a while" (1 Pet. 5:1010But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5:10)); so, on our way to glory, we often catch some brighter rays of His glory after a time of suffering. It was thus with the sisters. They had to suffer a while, for the Lord tarries, and no word comes from the Lord. The days are passing, Lazarus is sinking, the shadow of death is creeping over the home. At last death has come; Lazarus is dead. They have suffered a while; they shall now see His glory—for "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." To sight it was for death; in reality death was being used to bring into display the glory of Christ, and swell the triumph of His victory over death. To accomplish these great ends, how perfect the way He takes.
Human love, thinking only of the relief of the sick one, would have started at once for Bethany. Human prudence, thinking only of self, would never have gone, even as the disciples say, "Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee; and goest Thou thither again?" The Lord, rising above human love and human prudence, acts according to divine love moved by divine wisdom. "As for God, His way is perfect."
After patience has had her perfect work, in love's due time, the Lord comes to the bereaved sisters at Bethany, and reveals the deep love of His heart as He talks with them, and walks with them, and weeps with them. He is going to deepen their love by His words of love, and ways of love, and tears of love. What depths of love lie behind those sublime words, "Jesus wept." It was a wonderful sight to see a sinner weeping in the presence of His love, but more wonderful to see the Savior weeping in the presence of our sorrow. That we should weep because of our sins is a small wonder; that He should weep because of our sorrows is a great wonder—a wonder that discloses how near He came, and how near He is to a sorrowing saint.
Why, we may ask, these tears? The Jews, standing around the grave, misinterpret the tears; for they say, "Behold how He loved him!" Truly, the Lord loved Lazarus, but the tears were not the expression of His love for Lazarus. The sisters may weep for the loss of their brother; there was, however, no need for the Lord to weep for one He was about to raise. It was not for the dead He wept, but for the living—not for the loss of Lazarus, but for the sorrow of Mary and Martha. In a little, love will raise Lazarus, but first love will weep with Martha and Mary. He broke His heart to bind up our hearts, and shed His tears to dry our tears. In so doing He declared His love, and deepens our love. Thus He uses the trials, the sorrows, and the rough ways of life to unfold the treasures of His love, and draw out our love to Him.
After this great trial the sisters would surely have said, We knew that He loved us, but, until the trial came, we never knew that He loved us so much as to walk with us and weep with us in the trial.
At His feet, in Luke 10, Mary was learning His love; in John 11 she draws upon the love of which she had learned, and is deepened in the love that she draws upon.
What holy, happy lessons can we learn from these different scenes. We learn that at the feet
of Jesus, as sinners, love is awakened; at the feet of Jesus, as learners, love is maintained; and at the feet of Jesus, in our sorrows, love is deepened.