I introduced a new series we’re doing at OHC this weekend called “The Deeper Things.” Here are some of the thoughts I shared in our services…
When I was about ten years old my parents encouraged me to get involved with an extracurricular activity we had at our church called Junior Bible Quiz. This was a real simple activity where the goal was to memorize about 5,000 flash cards of Bible verses and biblical facts and then go to competitions and try to answer the questions the fastest.
I was never very good at JBQ and quit after just one competition (too much pressure). But there was one question that I got right in my illustrious JBQ career…
Q: What is the shortest verse in the Bible?
A: John 11:35 -- “Jesus Wept.”
I never really understood the significance of this verse until I went back and looked at the story as an adult.
Jesus had a few very close intimate friends. Lazarus, Mary and Martha were among them. Lazarus became ill. The sisters sent word to Jesus. Come, they said. We need you desperately. It’s urgent. When Jesus heard of their request, he had a remarkable insight. He said, “God will be glorified and honored in all of this.”
But when Jesus arrived several days later, it appeared he was too late. Many were weeping with the sisters.
Both Martha and Mary ask Jesus the same question… “Where were you… if you had been here, our brother would not have died" What a brutally honest question to ask one who you acknowledge as Lord. But haven’t we asked the same thing? How many times have we waited just like they did? "Why isn’t Jesus here when we need him?" "Why doesn’t God hurry up and do something?" "Where were you, Jesus, when my mom died…when I lost my job…when terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center?"
Martha reaches Jesus with her question first. "Your brother will rise again." He said, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die; whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
This is the answer you would expect from the Savior. Words full of faith and hope. Many preachers have offered these words at funerals or hospital beds.
But it is Jesus’ response to the second sister, Mary that is so incredible to me.
Martha went to her sister and told her to go see Jesus. Mary went quickly, weeping. She saw Jesus and threw herself at his feet and her grief was profound.
When Jesus saw her grief, along with the others, he "was deeply moved in spirit and troubled." He asked to go to the grave.
Jesus wept.
But why did he weep? If he knew he would raise Lazurus from the dead in just a few moments? If he knew that he would be the one to ultimately conquer death… why did Jesus weep?
When Jesus saw Mary weeping, as well as the people around her, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. He cried for the same reason we all cry at funerals. He grieved with Mary and Martha. Jesus loved them and Lazarus. He grieved that Lazarus had died. He identified with their pain and he understood their tears. That’s what friends do. They cry when you cry.
The Bible says that Christ was "familiar with our suffering".
In his book Jesus Wept, Bruce Marchiano writes, “Throughout scripture we see Jesus in the streets day after day, offering people His kingdom in exchange for their pain. We see Jesus feeding the hungry masses, reaching His carpeter-callused hands into the filth of a leper’s sores, washing people’s feet, starving in the wilderness, lifting cripples out of the sand, pulling prostitutes into His embrace. We see dirt and fatigue, struggle and striving. We see a Man on a mission like no man has ever been on a mission before or since.”
When Jesus wept he was saying to us “I know what grief is all about. I know this is not the way it was meant to be. I know that death is awful. I know that separation from those you love is horrible. I have felt your pain.”
This series will explore some of Jesus’ teaching on dealing with some of the deeper and potentially hurtful areas of our lives. Things we all experience such as Rejection, Doubt, Sorrow, and Pain.
As we begin this series, it’s one thing to know that God has some helpful things to say about our pain… it’s quite another to know that he experienced our pain first hand, so much so that GOD WEPT.
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