Title: John 11:36 - That Love
Contents
And the Jews said, Behold, how did you love him?
Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
1. What God is doing
God loved Jesus.
God made us realize that love through Jesus.
Although Jesus loved sinners, he made them to follow those who realized that love.
Jesus loved everyone, not how he loved him.
(1) Then the Jews said, How did you love him?
God loved the Jews more than anyone else.
God loved the Jews more than any other nation. The reason God first loved the Jews was that, among many, only Abraham believed the word of God. It is only natural that he loved the Jews who were his descendants first. But the Jews rejected God's love. God's love begins with keeping the word, but even that love is rejected by rejecting the word. From the Garden of Eden until now, even to the end of this world, God has made us realize His love through His Word. Therefore, those who realize the love of God have no choice but to keep the word of God. Because they do not love God, they do not keep the Word of God. No matter how many excuses you give, you do not love God, so you do not keep the word of God like the Jews. The Jews, whom he loved more than anyone else, betrayed God's love first.
God loved more than the Jews said.
When the Jews saw Jesus weeping, they misunderstood that it was because he loved Lazarus. Jesus obviously loved Lazarus. However, he loved not only Lazarus, but also Martha and Mary, and also loved the Jews who were with her. However, without realizing that love, they continued to misunderstand those who slept as the dead, continuing to obscure the glory of God. Jesus' tears were not shed to comfort the families of the dead like the Jews did. These were tears of sorrow and love that were shed for those who did not realize Jesus as the Christ, not just Lazarus, more than the Jews said.
(2) Behold, how did you love him?
God made you see.
It was not the tears of Jesus that God allowed us to see, but the love hidden in those tears. But the Jews did not see that love. Although that love was for all mankind and it was the love of the cross that took up the cross for sinners, the Jews misunderstood Lazarus only as love for the individual. Therefore, only seeing what people see will only cause misunderstandings over and over again. You have to be able to see what God has made you see, rather than seeing what people make you see.
God made Jesus see.
What the Jews saw was the dead Lazarus, the tears of Jesus. So, somehow, he tried to connect the dead Lazarus with the tears of Jesus. Look how he loved him, and he tried to twist it into a personal love relationship. Of course, Jesus loved Lazarus. Because Lazarus also realized the love of Jesus, he was even given the title of “one who loves”. Even so, the love of Jesus was not just a personal love. The love of Jesus was the love of God, the love from the beginning, and the love for all sinners. To realize that love, you have to see Jesus first, and after that, you have to look at the Word as well.
2. The heart of God
You want to know that love
God wants to know His love through Jesus.
God wants His people to know His love through Jesus. He wants to be his beloved, like Lazarus. Like Simon Peter, he wants to be a person who walks around as he pleases when he is young, but when he is old he wants to go where he does not want to go, that is, to follow the desires of the Holy Spirit. Like the Jews, he wants us not to distort the love of Jesus and make him fall into tears for the dead, or misunderstand him as someone who loved only one person, Lazarus. After realizing that love, that is, the love of Jesus, he lays down his life for his friend, and after that, he wants us to live together forever in a country full of God's love.
Revelation 22:15 “Dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and makes up lies will be outside the city.”
He wants you not to like lies.
God does not want His people to behave like dogs. Even if you are a foreigner who is treated as a dog by Jesus, if you become a dog that wants to eat even the crumbs that fall from the master's table, your faith can be recognized like the Canaanite woman. He does not want us to behave like sorcerers, fornicators, murderers, and idolaters. These are the ones who sit down to eat and drink, and get up to play. Those who love to lie, who love and create, are children of the devil. Knowing that these people are outside the city, he wants them to understand the love of Jesus and enter the city.
3. Who God is
You are the one who makes me realize that love
God is the one who showed the love of Jesus in order to make His people realize His love. He is also the One who makes us no longer love lies as in the Garden of Eden.
4. Traces of Jesus (Confession and Sharing)
(1) The blood of Jesus - What we did not realize of that love
(2) The life of Jesus - the decision to realize that love
5. Prayer
I don't understand that love
how did you love him
As I see it, that love was distorted
forgive me
Help me to understand that love
Help me to live in that love
Make me lose my life for that love
Let the lie be the one who never loves