Life with Jesus | Martha, Mary and Grief

Date: September 29, 2024
Worship Leader: Danessa Gonzalez
Speaker: Chris Peppler
Passage: John 11:1-44
Video Clip: Jesus and Lazarus

Grief Worksheet:

What is your first response, typically, when you receive troubling news?

• Denial
• Shock
• Fear /Anxiety
• Sadness
• Disorientation
• Rescue Mode
• Peace and Hope
  

Think of a few times when receiving bad news hit you pretty hard and make note of them.

Four Observations About Grief From this Text:

• Grief Takes Time and Requires Our Attention  | Because we’re not great at waiting, Jesus gives us opportunities to wait. This won’t be the first time.
  
  
  • Jesus, for our sake, waits. Why? This was the grievance both Martha and Mary had when Jesus showed up late (according to their own understanding.) “If you had been here…that’s bargaining.
    
    
  • Waiting increases dependence and dependence increases intimacy with Jesus.
    
    
  • We will make time for grief or grief will choose a time for us.
    

• Jesus Responds Uniquely to Each of Us in Our Grief
  

• • Martha and Mary approached Jesus with the same grievance and different responses to it. Jesus made space for each of them in their grief journey.
    
    
• Jesus Joins Us in Our Grief
  
  
  • This is empathy. Sometimes we see that words are helpful. Sometimes we see that they aren’t. Regardless of the circumstance, what is most helpful is presence.
    
    
• Jesus Leads Us From Grief to a Resurrected Life
  
  • This sickness will not end in death….Sometimes in what is temporary, but always in what is eternal. From an eternal perspective, we can know the end from the beginning!
    
    
  • Because we know that goodness and mercy will follow us, we can stop, feel our emotions, name our emotions and speak truth to our emotions.