Rock Bottom: Life

Yesterday, we finished up our summer sermon series as we turned to a significant story from Jesus’ life that is captured in the Gospel of John. In it, we see Jesus respond to the grief and pain of his dear friends Mary and Martha, as they mourned the death of their brother Lazarus. 

As we walk with Jesus through this story, he reveals to us a God who is not a distant ruler, but a compassionate friend who is willing to draw close to us in our own suffering and grief. In the face of the mourning and death he encounters in Bethany, Jesus is left troubled and disturbed - he too weeps in response to the loss Lazarus. 

Pastor Clare shared a story from earlier in her ministry when she faced death and the grief it bore with a family she held dear. She told of her own wrestling with the questions that come in the face of death. Why did this happen? How do we live without the one we love? And she shared the deep conviction she was left with after that wrestling that is found in scripture, is at the heart of this story in the Gospel of John, and has proven true over the near decade of life she has lived since that time.

Our God is a God of life. Death was never God’s plan for us and it is not God’s will for us. Jesus came so that we might have life, real life, abundant life, eternal life - life here, life now, life then, life always. 

What is left when everything else falls away?

Life, Jesus tells us, LIFE. 

If you missed it, you can catch her whole message below. You can also use that link to share the message with someone in your life who is grieving right now or having to wrestle with their own mortality. 

• Scripture - John 11:1-44