The cross was the highest and the most painful thing that Jesus endured, but it was by no means the only thing. He endured desertion. Though he fed thousands of people on different occasions, they all deserted Him at the trying moment. He endured being misunderstood. Many of His teachings were wrongly interpreted. When He asked them to destroy the temple and that He would build it back within three days, they thought that He spoke of Herod’s temple. In our text, we see a different type of endurance – enduring blame for what He did not do wrong! Martha’s statement implied that Jesus’ delay was the cause of Lazarus’ death. The commonest error that people fall into is blaming God for their woes.

The cross was the highest and the most painful thing that Jesus endured… He endured desertion… He endured being misunderstood…enduring blame for what He did not do wrong!

We can learn a thing or two from Jesus when we are being wrongly blamed. The first thing is that Jesus showed no anger against Martha.  He knew that she was already in grief. Lashing out at her could only deepen her sorrow.  What Jesus did was to demonstrate love and tolerance born out of understanding. He moved beyond that to offer hope by saying that Lazarus would rise again. Many of us would go up in arms if accused wrongly. Those who accuse you wrongly may be dealing with some undisclosed frustrations. If you can, correct the wrong impression to alter their judgment; but if you are not making sense to them, pray and leave the matter in the hands of God. Finally, Jesus eventually turned sorrow to dancing when He raised Lazarus back to life. That was more miraculous than if He had healed him. This is the point: whenever we think that God is delaying, He may be working out something grander than we could imagine.