Jesus wept
John 11:35. It's a verse that everyone remembers as the shortest verse in the Bible. For a verse that is only two words long, one wonders why they bothered to give it's own number, why not just include it in the verse before or after. Maybe they wanted to show us something. Do you know why Jesus wept? He wept after Mary and the other mourners had come to Lazarus' grave after Jesus had arrived 4 days after Lazarus died. Both Mary and Martha had questioned Jesus as to his time of arrival, certain that if he had arrived earlier Lazarus would not have died. This passage refers to Jesus being agitated and upset twice other than v. 35. And in the midst of this we get, "Jesus wept." Why did Jesus weep? He already knew that Lazarus would be raised to life. The Scripture does not explain specifically but it seems to be that because he had compassion for Mary and Martha, whom he loved dearly, he was moved by the anguish they were going through. He was probably moved also by the crowd of mourners who came to grieve for this man. He may have also been moved because his friend had died, maybe he felt that momentary sense of loss. Somewhere in there it seems that Jesus heard a hurting world and wept because of it. God weeping, such a basic and demonstrative human emotion, and Jesus felt it too. The God of the universe wept with two women because their brother had died. I don't know how that makes you feel. It gives me shivers down my spine as I feel the compassion and love of a God who can feel my hurt and pain and would weep beside me. These days, in heaven, I don't know if Jesus weeps - there's too much tricky theology there. But I know that He did, and that's probably enough for me because I know that He has known what it feels like too. Jesus wept. Important because it tells us that God completely knows and understands our human condition. I can have faith in a God like that.
posted by bec @ 11:03 pm
2 Comments:
I'm really enjoying your blog.
cool thanks! Good to hear. Hope it stays that way!
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