The Helper We Need
Sunday 29th October 2023
“Lord … if you had been here, my brother would not have died?”
John 11:21, 32 (NIV)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Helper We Need
Do you know who said the words quoted above? They are the words of Martha, the sister of Lazarus who has just died. And they are also the words of the other sister Mary. Isn’t it striking that they should both say exactly the same thing to Jesus when they meet him? There is perhaps a hint of a rebuke in their words, suggesting that he might have got there sooner. They certainly show great confidence in Jesus: if only he had arrived earlier, things would have been different. He could have stopped Lazarus dying!
What is fascinating is how Jesus gives a very different answer to each sister. Presumably he knows what is really on the mind of each, how each of them is ‘wired’ and what each of them most needs to hear. Yet again we see his wisdom in action. And the combination of what he says to the two sisters together shows Jesus to be the perfect helper, the helper we need.
In reply to Martha Jesus famously says, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (verse 26). He is ‘the resurrection’, granting life after death to those who believe in him. And he is ‘the life’, granting life unending, life with God as Father. Note, it is not just that he can show us where to find such life. He is himself that life, for all who come to him and put their trust in him
So, here Jesus is the helper who comes from above, from God himself, to do for us what we could never possibly do for ourselves.
And Jesus is also the helper who comes alongside. This comes out in his interaction with Martha’s sister Mary. Here we see a very different reaction. We read that Jesus was “deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (verse 33). This is a gut-wrenching agony, indignation and even anger at the intrusion of death into God’s good world. It is Jesus saying, “This should not be!” There is something wrong about death.
Next we read that “Jesus wept” (verse 35), famously the shortest verse in the Bible. Here we see Jesus grieving, weeping at the loss of his friend. We all grieve differently, but there is no encouragement here to ‘bottle it up and carry on.’
Finally, we hear the bystanders remark, “See how he loved him” (verse 36). Jesus’ love for Lazarus is evident to all. Here again we see that Jesus is just like us. He knows what it is to have loved and lost. In his anger, his grief and his love, he shows himself to be the helper who comes alongside, reassuring us that we are not alone when we feel such things. He has been there too.
It is this combination of being the helper who comes alongside, who relates to us and shows us that we are not alone, and also the helper who comes from above, who rescues us and does for us what no one else could do, that makes Jesus the perfect helper, the helper we need.
Father, thank you for Jesus, the helper who comes alongside, reassuring me that I am not alone, and the helper who comes from above, doing for me what I could never do myself. Amen.
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)