Thought for the Month - November 2017

"Jesus wept " by Barry Adair

Many of us will know the phrase "Jesus wept" as the shortest verse in the Bible. Some will know of the background to these words. Others will know the phrase simply as a crass expletive - Jesus wept. It is found in John chapter 11 verse 35 of the Bible.

I will come to the story of when these words were uttered shortly. The part I love is that they were said at all. The Creator of the universe shed tears of compassion! The Son of God came into this world as human as you and I are. He got hungry like us, and He got thirsty like us. He laughed like us, and He cried like us. Is it any wonder that the author of the letter to the Hebrews could write…

For we do not have a high priest (the Lord Jesus) who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses… (Hebrews 4:15, addition mine)

and

He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he Himself is beset with weakness. (Hebrews 5:2)

Going back to our story. In Bethany, Jesus' friend Lazarus had died and his sisters Mary and Martha were beside themselves with grief. Now Jesus knew his friend Lazarus was sick and, before it even happened, Jesus knew Lazarus was going to die. He also knew that He would raise Lazarus from the dead. He had told His disciples, "Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up". Jesus knew all this, and yet, when confronted with the grief of Mary and Martha at Lazarus' tomb, Jesus wept tears of compassion. Even though Jesus knew He would be talking with Lazarus again in a matter of minutes, He was still overcome with grief.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. (Romans 12:15)

I should also mention that Jesus could have prevented the death of His friend in the first place. Mary and Martha both acknowledged this when they told Jesus, "Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died". It is these facts that have led Bible scholars to debate exactly why Jesus cried. They may be only 2 English words but "Jesus wept" has had countless volumes written about them!

If I could simply summarise their thoughts in a couple of lines:

Jesus wept because He had compassion for His friends and their grief
Jesus was reminded of the calamity of sin and of the fact that sin ultimately leads to death (Romans 6:23)
By raising Lazarus, Jesus knew that this action would galvanise the religious leaders to call for His arrest and trial
Jesus, perhaps, thought of His upcoming suffering, painful death and separation from the Father

Going back to Bethany, I love it that when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead He simply shouted "Lazarus come forth". Such was the power and authority of Jesus, I remember someone telling me that it was just as well that Jesus started that sentence off with "Lazarus", otherwise it would have emptied the whole cemetery!

I also love how someone summarised Jesus' actions in Bethany in one simple short sentence…

"In His humanity Jesus wept for Lazarus; in His divinity He raised him from the dead."

What, I think, had put the idea of this Thought in my head was a recent overnight stay in hospital. As the young Doctor inserted a needle into my nose, I felt tears well up in my eyes for the first time in many years. These were only brief tears of pain and yet afterwards my thoughts turned to the words in this Thought, "Jesus wept". I later thought of the intense pain that my Saviour must have undergone at Calvary. After 20 minutes with a needle in my nose I was drenched in sweat. Jesus sweated too prior to His arrest, and such was His anguish that His sweat was mixed with blood from ruptured capillaries in His forehead. I cannot even imagine the pain He must have endured at the cross. The thought of those long rusty nails being hammered into his wrists and feet is too much for me to even contemplate. But this thing I know, my Saviour's compassion for me was so great that He died for me, even the death of the cross!

Can you also say that Jesus died for you? Jesus died to pay for the sin of the world. Jesus shed His blood to pay for my sin. Can you also say that He shed His blood to pay for your sin?

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Until next month (DV)…

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