Jesus Wept
"Jesus had not yet come into the village but
was still in the place where Martha had met Him. The Jews who were
with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went
out. So they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry
there. When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His
feet and told Him, 'Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have
died!' When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying,
He was angry in His spirit and deeply moved. 'Where have you put him?' He
asked. 'Lord,' they told Him, 'come and see.' Jesus wept. So the
Jews said, 'See how He loved him!' But some of them said, 'Couldn't He
who opened the blind man's eyes also have kept this man from dying?'"
(John 11:30-37 HCSB) [1]
Lazarus died and Jesus waited for three days before going to his home. He
was very good friends with Lazarus, Mary and Martha. They had seen the
miracles that Jesus had performed. Mary and Martha knew that if Jesus had
been there He could have healed Lazarus so he would not have died. I don't
know if they were around for some of the miracles Jesus did long distance.
They probably were not or they might have believed that Jesus would have
healed Lazarus without actually being there.
Jesus might have been sorrowful for the death of Lazarus and that would have
shown His human side. But if He knew that He was going to raise Lazarus from
the dead, why would He be so sorrowful as to weep? The verses above tell us
that He was angry in spirit and deeply moved. Why is this? Why would He be
angry in this case? This can be answered with one word:
UNBELIEF
These people did not fully believe in what Jesus could do. This at first
made Him angry then made Him so sad that He wept.
Near the time of Jesus' crucifixion Jesus wept over Jerusalem because of the
unbelief in that city. Many people there had seen Him and seen what He had
done but did not believe He was the Messiah.
Could Jesus be weeping now as He sees what is going on in this world at this
time? Does He weep when we say, "I know the Lord can do thus and so", but
don't believe He will do it for us? Does He weep when He hears us say that
you have to follow certain steps to have Him do a miracle for you? We need
to believe that Jesus Christ can work and does work in His time and in His
way.
May we say, like the father of the demoniac: "Immediately the father of
the boy cried out, 'I do believe! Help my unbelief.'"Mark 9:24 (HCSB)
By Dean W. Masters
dwmasters@earthlink.net
Owner of the Masters List:
http://shaned.net/mailman/listinfo/masterslist_shaned.net
Unedited redistribution approved