Oh, How He Loves, a devotional thought

Whenever I read the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11, it always strikes me just how deep, and rich and tender Jesus’ friendship was with Lazarus and his sisters. When Mary hears that Jesus has arrived, it says, she rushes out to meet him; when he sees her grief he’s deeply moved in his spirit; when he sees the place they laid Lazarus’ body he weeps. So profound is his feeling for his friends that those looking on say, “See how he loved him.”

Sometimes when we talk about the love of Jesus it can start to sound like this abstract thing, a law of nature or an ethical principle (and it is, actually, I think, both of those things in some ways). But what stands out here is how personal and intimate and human the friendship between these four—-Lazarus, Mary, Martha and Jesus—-was.

How he loves, indeed!

May we all have a deep awareness of his loving presence in our lives today, not as a cold abstraction, but as a vibrant, living friendship that leaves us, and anyone who catches a glimpse of it, leaves us marvelling like the mourners Lazarus’ grave that day, saying: “Just look at how He loves!”