Individual Experiences – Part 2

When I was growing up, I had the opportunity to do a multiple day cruise.  It was an amazing experience and on one of the nights, our small ship went through a very tumultuous storm.  I remember trying to walk down the corridor after dinner, to get to our room, with lots of hugging the walls and railing, bobbing up and down like a cork and laughing my head off.  I thought it was loads of fun to experience all of these gyrations, kind of like a free roller coaster ride with no seat belt.  The next day, I quickly became aware that other people on the ship didn’t perceive the storm like I did.  Lots of the passengers looked kind of green, maybe from throwing up and maybe from being tossed and turned in their beds.  I still look back on this memory with a mischievous smirk. 

Each of us can go through the same event, but have very different experiences, as we talked about last week.  In this blog, we’ll continue to talk about the importance of experiencing Jesus for ourselves and not just through someone else’s lens.  To do this, we are looking at Martha, Mary and Lazarus, siblings from the same family who went through the same events but have different experiences with Jesus.  Last week, we looked at Martha and this week we’ll look at Mary.

In contrast to Martha who was very practical and probably a high achiever, Mary was more contemplative (sitting at Jesus’ feet in Luke 10:42) and probably more emotionally oriented.  I make that observation because of the differences between Martha and Mary when their brother died, and Jesus showed up “too late” to heal him.  Both sisters said the same thing to Jesus in John 11:21 and 32, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

In contrast to Martha, Mary fell at Jesus’ feet and was a puddle of tears, in extreme grief from the death of her brother.  The Greek word for this kind of weeping includes wailing and an extreme outpouring of grief.  While Martha had more of a rational dialogue with Jesus, Mary was a lot more emotional.

I bring this to your attention because Jesus engaged with each sister on the level of their individuality.  He had a rational discussion with Mary, letting her know that He is the resurrection and life.  With Mary, on the other hand, He saw her grief and wailing, along with the Jews who had come to mourn the death of Lazarus.  As Jesus observed this intense outpouring of grief, He also was deeply moved as we read in John 11:33: “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled.” In verse 35, we see the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.”

Both sisters went through the same event, the death of their brother and Jesus showing up too late to prevent his death.  But both sisters had very different experiences with Jesus and both of their experiences were equally valid and essential to their individuality. 

With this in mind, I think it’s important for us to accept the truth that we don’t need to be anyone but our true self to experience Jesus.  In this way, Jesus engages with us in our wonderfully unique identity, and we can be increasingly close to Him as we are fully transparent with Him!