Welcome to this morning's meditation.
Wherever you are.
Whether you were in your car.
At your kitchen table.
On a walk.
Or still in bed.
You're welcome here.
Take a moment to place your feet on the floor if you're able.
Relaxing your body as you notice the floor beneath you.
You are grounded.
You are here.
And that is enough for now.
Begin to notice your breath.
And with intention,
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
Allowing your belly and your chest to rise.
And slowly release through your mouth.
Take another deep breath in.
And slowly let go as you breathe out.
This is a mourning for two sisters.
Mary and Martha.
Who loved Jesus deeply.
And still struggled.
Who were anxious and overwhelmed.
Grief-stricken.
And honest.
And in their honesty,
They encountered one of the most tender moments in all of the Gospels.
If you've ever felt like you were holding too much.
This morning.
Prayer and meditation is for you.
We turn to John chapter 11,
Verses 20 through 21.
And verses 32 through 35.
Let these words breathe.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming.
She went out to meet him.
But Mary stayed at home.
Lord.
Mary said to Jesus.
If you had been here.
My brother would not have died.
When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him,
She fell at his feet and said,
Lord,
If you had been here,
My brother would not have died.
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping.
And the Jews also weeping who came with her.
He was deeply moved in spirit.
And was troubled.
And said,
Where have you laid him?
Jesus wept.
When Martha saw that Jesus was coming,
She went out to meet him.
But Mary stayed at home.
Lord,
Martha said to Jesus.
If you had been here,
My brother would not have died.
When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him,
She fell at his feet and said,
Lord,
If you had been here,
My brother would not have died.
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping.
And the Jews also weeping who came with her.
He was deeply moved in spirit.
And was troubled.
And say.
Where have you laid him?
Jesus wept.
Two sisters.
The same grief.
Two different ways of showing up to it.
Martha.
The one we know as the busy one.
The one who was anxious and troubled about many things.
She heard Jesus was coming.
And went out to meet him.
She didn't wait.
Shimu.
And the first thing out of her mouth was not a greeting.
Or theology.
It was simply.
If you had been here.
Mary.
The one who sat at Jesus's feet.
The one who chose the one thing needful.
She stayed inside.
She didn't rush.
She waited.
And when she finally came to him,
She fell at his feet.
And the first thing out of her mouth was the same.
Lord.
If you had been here.
Two sisters,
The same lament.
What strikes me is that Jesus did not correct either of them.
He didn't say.
Where is your face?
He didn't say.
You should trust me.
He didn't explain himself.
Or even defend his timing.
He asked where Lazarus was laying.
And then,
The shortest,
Most stunning verse in the Bible.
Jesus wept.
The Son of God who already knew what he was about to do.
Who already knew that Lazarus would rise,
Wept.
He entered into their grief before he resolved it.
So for those of us who live with anxiety,
With overwhelm.
And with the weight of trying to do everything right.
And still feeling like things are falling apart.
This is the word for you this morning.
Jesus meets you in the anguish before he brings the miracle.
Beloved,
He weeps with you.
Before he rolls the stone away.
So where in your life are you waiting for God?
And wondering.
Where have you been?
Martha's anxiety was real.
Mary's grief was real.
And Jesus came to both of them.
And he's coming to you.
Now let's pray.
Jesus,
I come to you this morning like Mary and Martha came to you.
With the ache of the thing that didn't go the way I expected.
With the questions I don't always ask or say out loud.
With the grief that lives right underneath the surface of my busy,
Productive,
Capable life.
Lord,
If you had been here.
My goodness,
I've said those words too.
Maybe not out loud.
But in the quiet of the night in my mind.
And the moments when I've wondered where you were during the hardest chapters of my life.
God I thank you that you did not rebuke Mary or Martha for their lament.
I thank you that you wept with them.
That you did not rush to the solution without first entering the grief.
That is the God I need this morning.
I bring you the anxiety.
The mental load that doesn't turn off.
The caregiving.
The war.
The to-do list that never ends.
The parts of me that are tired in ways I can't explain in a simple sentence.
Lord,
I bring you the grief.
The quiet grief of things that have not worked out.
Of people I've lost.
And versions of my life that did not materialize the way I had imagined.
Jesus weep with me this morning if that is what I need.
Will you sit with me?
And then when the time is right.
You speak life over the things in me that have felt like they were dying.
Oh lord roll away the stones i have stopped believing could be moo Will you call forth what I have buried?
And exhaustion.
In the long grief of unanswered prayers.
Lord,
I trust you.
Not because the path has been easy.
But because you are present in it.
And that I am slowly learning.
That's enough.
Amen.
Dear friend,
Now receive this closing blessing.
As you return to your day.
May you know today.
That God is not put off by your anxiety.
May you know that he weeps with you in the grief before he speaks to it.
May Martha's urgency.
And merry stillness both find their home in you.
Room to run to Jesus.
And room to fall at his feet.
And may you carry with you.
All through this day.
The certain knowledge that you are loved by God.
Who enters in.
All the way in.
To whatever you are carrying.
In Jesus's name.
Amen.
