Jesus Wept
The sun is peeking through the clouds this morning like a child might peek through the lattice of a neighbors back yard. What does it see? Can the sun see the glories and hardships of humanity? I think on that some as I soak up the relative warmth (30°) that it offers. It is silly I know. The sun is impersonal and cannot see or feel. It cannot share in humanities toiling or understand it. I think about the Son who did more than glance at us from heaven’s vast distance.
I think about how He wept. That verse has the novelty of being the shortest in the Bible but I think it and the story that surrounds it is worth a lot of thought. Jesus knew that Lazarus would die. He knew he would raise him from the dead. He knew that the purpose was the glory of God and His own glorification. And over and over in the narrative it says he was deeply moved. He wept. His love for these siblings was so evident to everyone around him. His knowledge of His power and His plan did not diminish his compassion for those he loves, He entered into and shared in their grief. We might see them as a type, a picture of dysfunctional and broken humanity, like all of us deeply in need of a savior. But it’s clear that they weren’t merely a type, they were His friends and His grief was real.
“So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus…
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.”
John 11:3-5, 33-38
