Rambling's From The Rev.

Pastor Jim Johnson
St. Luke Lutheran Church
March 2008
“Does God Know or Care?”

She called the Seminary switchboard asking for a New Testament professor. We had eight New Testament professors on the faculty. The operator called two professor’s offices before she finally reached Professor Craig Koester in his office.

I was taking a course on the Gospel of John from Professor Koester (his expertise) that quarter when he received that mysterious call. Was it miraculous, divine intervention, or just coincidence? You decide. But Professor Koester was preparing his lecture for our class that day on John chapter 11, the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, when he received the phone call.

“Professor Koester, I have a woman on the phone asking for a New Testament professor. Do you have time to talk with her?” the seminary operator asked. “Sure, put her through,” he replied. It probably wasn’t true. He probably didn’t have time, but when summoned, duty calls. And as is the case so often, it’s the interruptions, intrusions into our plans and schedules, sometimes annoying disruptions in our lives, where the most fruitful ministry takes place, and God’s Spirit blows where it wills, where we look back in retrospect and realize something divine had taken place – a holy encounter that was missed due to its ordinariness and bothersome inconvenience.

The woman’s voice came on the phone soft and broken. She asked, “Where can I find the shortest verse in the New Testament: ‘Jesus wept’?” Looking down at his bible lying open to the very verse as he was preparing his lecture for that day, he said, “Well, it’s right here, John 11:35.”

There was a moment of silence before she finally was able to get the words out, “Thank you,” and she hung up.

I remember this having a profound affect on my professor. Not only was it mysterious, maybe even miraculous, and certainly coincidental, but it was a moment of power and witness – a lesson for a teacher.

I remember verbatim what my Professor said: “All I can make from that incident was that that woman needed to know, needed to see, needed to hear that her Lord felt the pain that she felt; that her Lord experienced what she was going through with her; that like herself, her Lord wept.”

As I’ve reflected on this story over the years (this woman’s, as well as those other two women’s – Mary and Martha’s) there’s something Jesus said that’s even more important than what he did; more important for these women, and for us to hear in our grief, hopelessness, despair, or in the face of death: “Arise!” and “Unbind him, let him go!” It’s one thing to have a Lord who weeps with us, and feels what we feel, who isn’t immune to our pain and plight, far off and aloof, but if that’s all we have, then what we’re left with is an empathetic friend (which is nice, but there seems to be more to the story than that). Sometimes it’s enough to know that Jesus weeps for us, with us, and even because of us, and sometimes we need to hear the rest of the story – he has the power over life and death, over sin and the evil one; he has the power to raise the dead, to unbind us and set us free, to give us new life. He cares not only about where we’ve been and what we’ve been through, but where we’re going.

Peace be with you,
Pastor Jim