Teaching & Tears: Two Pastoral Paths

In response to this post from last week, over ten of you are joining me in reading through the Bible in a year (if you still want to join up with us, it's not too late, you're only four days behind). I've begun my reading for the year in the Gospel of John. This morning I read chapters 9-11, especially treasuring what I learned about Jesus and his care of people in chapter 11.Here's what I noticed this morning. Chapter 11 is the famous event in which Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the dead. What struck me this morning was how Jesus, prior to raising Lazarus, offered tremendous care for Lazarus' two sisters, Martha and Mary, yet the care/shepherding/counseling that Jesus offered Martha was quite distinct from what he offered to Mary.When Jesus enters the town of Bethany, where Lazarus is entombed, it's Martha who first approaches Jesus. It's not until a little while later that Mary approaches Jesus. And though the sisters come to Jesus at two different times, their first words to him are the same: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (v. 21 [Martha], v. 32 [Mary]).Though these two sisters greet Jesus with the exact same statement, he greets them with two quite different responses: Martha receives teaching, Mary receives tears. The assumption that underlies the text is that Jesus knew his friends Martha and Mary quite well, he knew that he needed to speak into Martha's grief and weep into Mary's grief.Immediately upon hearing Martha's statement, Jesus begins to teach. He teaches about the resurrection and about his identity as the true resurrection, the Messiah. Presumably, at that moment Jesus knew that Martha needed the care of teaching/theology.Immediately upon hearing Mary's exact same statement, Jesus begins to weep. Presumably, at that moment Jesus knew that Mary needed the care of tears.We have much to learn from this chapter, first in what it teaches us about Jesus as our Savior and second in what it teaches us about Jesus as our Example.First, we have a Savior who knows all things, and that includes knowing each of our intricacies intimately. As our Good Shepherd (John 10) continues to shepherd our lives from his throne in heaven, he know each of us as thoroughly as he knew Martha and Mary and he cares for us in the manner that we need to be cared for, giving teaching or tears, toughness or tenderness, as needed (note: the care we need is not the same as the care we want).Second, in this narrative we're presented with an instructive example for how we go about caring for fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. If we're true students of our Christian family members, we'll steadily grow in discerning how to best care for those whom God has put in our path. Sometimes we'll need to teach people, to eclipse their fears and reorient their thinking by presenting a theology that's truly biblical and provides true hope in the face of difficulty (Martha needed to hear Jesus teach: "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live"). Other times we'll need to skip the teaching and simply use our tears. We'll need to weep with people, knowing that the tender ministry of tears is used of God in powerful ways  (Mary needed to see Jesus  "deeply moved," "greatly troubled," and weeping).