Diametrically Opposed Oneness

Two sisters with two very different personalities.  Yet when their greatest time of grief came, both Mary and Martha said exactly the same thing:

Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  (John 11:21 and John 11:32)

Perhaps their motives for saying it were different.  Maybe one said it with bitterness, angry at Jesus for not coming sooner.  Maybe the other was simply stating what she knew to be true.  We can’t say for sure.  But what we do know is they both said it.  Even more remarkable, we get to see what isn’t said by the one whom these remarks are directed to.  No chastising.  No condemnation.  No lectures on having more faith.  Instead, during Mary and Martha’s darkest hour,

Jesus wept.”  John 11:35

Those facts are so tremendous I can scarcely take them in.  Savor that truth.  Let it penetrate to your marrow, for it applies to you, too. 

When you’re grieving—whether it be the death of a loved one, a marriage, a friendship, a miscarriage or a dream—God can handle your pointed comments.  There is nothing about them that should make us feel guilty or embarrassed.  In fact, they just might move God Almighty to tears.  Then, in His perfect timing, God will do what He does best: redeem.