Lazarus is Dead, Part 3
Jesus Wept
The following Scriptural Nugget is the third
in a mini-series based on John 11.
"When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 'Where have you laid him?' he asked. 'Come and see, Lord,' they replied. Jesus wept." (John 11:33-35).
Lazarus, Jesus' good friend, is dead. His
sisters are weeping and mourning, for besides their sense of great
loss, they are also facing the reality of having to survive on
their own. In Part 2 of this mini-series, we saw that although
Jesus could have prevented Lazarus' death, He did not do
so. His decision to not heal Lazarus was based on the fact
that He wanted to use this opportunity to allow Mary, Martha,
Lazarus, His disciples, and everyone present to experience Him in
a way they had never experienced Him before (John 11:4: "it is for
God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it."). He
allowed Lazarus' death in order to bring about the greatest
miracle He had done up until that point in time: He was about to
bring Lazarus back from the dead.
Had the people fully understood and
believed, there would have been rejoicing instead of mourning!
But even though Jesus had plainly told His disciples (John 11:11:
"Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to
wake him up."), as well as Mary and Martha (John 11:23: "Your
brother will rise again."), no one could see beyond the
circumstance, and as a result, weeping and wailing prevailed.
And right here in the midst of all of this,
we read these interesting verses: "[Jesus] was deeply moved in
spirit and troubled . . . Jesus wept."
It is easy enough to understand why the
others were weeping, but why would Jesus weep? After all,
He KNEW that in just a little while, Lazarus was going to
rise from the dead, and through it all the Son of Man would be
glorified! It should have been a triumphant moment for Jesus.
But instead, His heart, too, was troubled and He wept. Why would
Jesus weep? He wept out of compassion for those who hurt!
So often in life, trials are allowed to
teach us important lessons. But don't we, like Mary and Martha,
also usually get so caught up in the circumstance of the moment
that we, too, forget who is in charge? We take our eyes off of
Jesus and look to the circumstance instead, and the result is
usually "weeping" and "wailing". This story teaches us that when
we are sad, Jesus hurts with us. Even if our sadness is caused by
a lack of faith in what He has promised, He still acutely
feels our sadness. He hurts because
we hurt! He cares so much about how we are
feeling, that just seeing us weep moves His spirit. He
cares about each and every one of us! What an awesome,
compassionate God!
Lord God, the next time I am "weeping" and
"wailing" in the midst of a set of bad circumstances, help me to
remember that You, too, are weeping with me!
Please see the Saturday edition of The Illustrator for "Lazarus
is Dead! Part 4"
Love in Christ,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart,
Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets (
www.sermonillustrator.org/minisermons/ ), Answers2Prayer Ministries,
www.Answers2Prayer.org ,