Day 1 — Mary: Faith in Suffering
As I started to write this week’s devotions, I prayed specifically for God to open my eyes during my personal reading his Word and reveal to me what to teach. My first text for the day was John 11, and God answered my prayer with more content than I expected.
In John 11, the disciple whom Jesus loved recounts the raising of Lazarus from the dead. It is an amazing miracle that reveals Jesus’ power extends beyond matters of life and into the darkness of death.
Among the first people introduced in John 11 is Mary, the sister of Lazarus.
John 11:1–2
“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.”
John identifies Mary by an act of worship he will describe in the next chapter. This is the woman who will pour out expensive ointment and wipe Jesus’ feet with her hair.
Why does this woman, who loves Jesus so deeply, have to suffer through the death of her brother?
We often assume that if we do right, things will go right. If you are good, good things happen. If you serve God, then God will serve you.
Yet here we find Mary, a devout worshiper of Jesus, walking through suffering that seemingly didn’t have to happen!
Today, we see a reminder that even the most devout and devoted are not exempt from suffering. We live in a broken world, and suffering can become a place where doubt takes root. But suffering is not proof that our faith has failed or that God has stopped loving us.
“Why did you let him die?” may be the question Mary is wrestling through as a Savior and suffering seem incompatible. Mary states clearly in verse 32, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
I think this is a point many of us reach in our faith. If only Jesus had been here, bad things would not have happened. He could have helped. He could have worked. He could have saved.
Mary knows Jesus could have healed her brother. What she is about to witness is that his power extends even into the depths of the tomb. Lazarus will walk out of the grave.
Here is what I hope you consider today: Do I believe Jesus can still work?
Not simply, “He could have helped back then,” but, “I believe he can work even now.” This is not about whether I asked, prayed, or pleaded enough. It is about the power of the One to whom I pray.
No problem is too big or too small for Jesus’ power to work. No situation is beyond the Author and Sustainer of life. That does not mean he will always work in the way I ask, but I can trust him even when I do not understand.
This is our God. Mary loved Jesus, and she was about to see more of his power than she had imagined.
May we learn that Jesus is more than we can even fathom!
