Before shewing the blessed teaching which sufferers may gather from this twofold picture of mysterious sorrow and of thoughtful love, let us study for a moment the circumstances attending the meeting of Jesus with Martha and Mary.  Many of these are deeply interesting and full of instruction; but I confine myself to one point only, the evidence which I cannot but think they afford of the shaken faith of the sisters for a time in the love of Jesus.

Martha was the first to meet Him outside of the town, where in quiet, and undisturbed by the noisy mourners from Jerusalem, and by their sympathising friends, Jesus desired, with His considerate kindness, to probe and heal those sorely wounded hearts.  And what was her salutation?  “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died!” What means this?  Is it an expression of confidence only in His power?  Is it a confession of faith?  Or does it not rather evidence unbelief?  Does it not imply a sorrowing complaint, uttered, indeed, with reverence, and in such gentle language as was compatible with sincere faith, but still a complaint from a wondering and disappointed because wrung spirit, expressed in language which suggested the additional question asked only in the heart, “And why wert Thou not here?” Jesus reasoned with her.  She believes, yet still doubts and questions why He had not come; she trusts Him, yet sees no light with reference to His dealings towards themselves.  One thing she will do, however, amidst the darkness—­she will cling to Christ as her only hope and refuge!  Mary remains in the house.  Why?  Was it that she had not heard of the arrival of Jesus, or of Martha having gone to meet Him?  Or is her heart so torn by distracting thoughts, that for a moment she knows not what to do?  She dare not say to Him all she feels.  Her keen and sensitive heart is agonised by entertaining for a moment even the bare suspicion of unkindness on His part.  She fights against the horrid thought, which, like a demon, torments her, yet she cannot yet quite banish it, and meet Him with the full, unreserved, gushing love which something tells her is His due.  But however this may have been, a message from Himself rouses her:  “The Master is come, and calleth for thee; and as soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came unto him.”  But how did she meet Him!  Ah!  Martha and she have surely been together pondering over the mystery of His absence, and they have inwardly come to the same conclusion; and so she too fell at the Master’s feet, with the same wailing cry from her full heart, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died!” As she uttered these words, “Jesus wept!” There are expressions and single words in Scripture which reveal a whole heaven of glory—­like the opening in the telescope, which, though but as a pin-point of light, reveals the glory of sun, moon, and stars.  What a revelation of love is this—­“Jesus wept!” But what mean these tears?  They are