Jesus Wept

 

Text: John 11:32-35

Focus: All Saints Day

Function: to remind us of the hope we have in Christ.

³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵Jesus began to weep.

Last Sunday, we had a lot of fun with the kids, grand kids and great grand kids as we celebrated Halloween. Halloween commemorates the day before All Saints day, the day we memorialize the love and loss we feel for those who have died and gone ahead of us into their reward.

So, I want to talk a bit about death and the hope that we have as believers.

I think that the Protestant tradition misses a lot from what our Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters share in their common belief in the power of sainthood and the practice of praying to saints.

All, I believe, are saints. If we have come to the place where we have trusted in Jesus Christ as our Savior, then we are welcome into the family/kingdom of God and the Bible calls us saints.

In the Protestant tradition, we believe in what we call the Priesthood of all believers and we all have access to God through Jesus Christ and we do not need a priest, or in this case, a saint to intercede for us.

Too bad.

Jesus speaks of Abraham beseeching God on behalf of his children from the grave.

Those in heaven appear to understand some of what is going on down here on earth.

I find myself, when I am really confused about a situation, and I don’t understand what God is doing but I sense there is a real danger or problem and I am called to pray. But I don’t know how to pray because I don’t understand the divine plan, I find myself saying in my prayers, “Dad, if you can hear me and understand my situation, can you please talk to Jesus about it and work this out? I don’t know what do do or how to pray!”

And, I don’t believe, according to scripture that we are cut off from those who have died and gone before us. In talking about the lack of fear that we can have coming to God in prayer, the author of Hebrews also exposes a mystery about our relationship with those who have died and gone before us. Look at Hebrews 12:²²But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

So, it appears that those believers who have died are rejoicing in the presence of God, the new heavenly Jerusalem -the city of God’s peace-, and we have come into their presence when we joined the family of God ourselves.

Now let us get to our primary text for today. Jesus wept. My favorite verse in the Bible.

Let me read it to you from The Message, a translation by Eugene Peterson that focuses on the story of the bible.

The Message:

³²Mary came to where Jesus was waiting and fell at his feet, saying, “Master, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

^33-34When Jesus saw her sobbing and the Jews with her sobbing, a deep anger welled up within him. He said, “Where did you put him?”

^34-35“Master, come and see,” they said. Now Jesus wept.

I like the way the Message picks up on the Greek word Orge. What was Jesus upset about? Was it their lack of faith or was it Jesus feeling empathy for the human condition? He loved Lazarus, Mary and Martha and it appears that watching them cry was too much for Him.

We read in the New Revised the Jesus was “deeply upset and greatly moved.” The image from translating it from Greek directly is the word used when a horse goes off and starts neighing loudly. Literally, He made a loud noise.

I sort of with the Peterson had translated the word orge into passion instead of anger. But both words get the idea across. Jesus was very passionate about what was happening and what was about to happen.

Now we know that He knows all things, and He knows that in the next few moments, the source of their grief is going to be turned to immeasurable joy.

But, I suppose it is important to go back to the beginning of today’s narrative and look at the blaming that Mary has toward Jesus. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” We know that this is a lesson about the power of resurrection so that we can believe in Jesus’ own resurrection. But Mary didn’t know. And remember, that is why I ask my dad to intercede, because he has a more eternal perspective on things that I do since he has gone to heaven already.

Mary blamed Jesus. It is natural for us to blame God when things go wrong. I don’t think that is the reason why the translator choose to use anger instead of passion in this translation.

But this is a hard lesson. Remember earlier of you will, that Jesus was told Lazarus was sick and the sisters begged Jesus to come before he died. Jesus delayed on purpose. He has a purpose in what He is doing here on planet earth.

This purpose, I believe was to prove the resurrection and thereby, to give us hope as well.

He could have been upset by their lack of faith in what He can do for us. Abraham believed that God would raise the dead to keep God’s promise and was willing to sacrifice Isaac on the altar. God’s power is supernatural as we saw in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ recorded for us in the gospel accounts.

But that last verse gives us a clue as to what He was really feeling: “Jesus wept.” The NRSV says, Jesus began to weep.

Hebrews 4:14-15 speaks of Jesus being the great High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. ¹⁴Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus was tested in every way as we are, yet he passed all the tests. He can help us with our own weaknesses.

Jesus knows and has experienced human loss. For example: once Jesus is past puberty, we have no record of Joseph in the gospel accounts, so apparently, he died young and Mary was left a widow. Jesus experienced that loss as well, at a premature time.

And here again at the graveside of Lazarus, his friend. His friend. He wasn’t one of the 12, he is only listed as a friend, another aspect of Jesus understanding the human condition and human connection and human love.

And I find it comforting that Jesus wept. I know He weeps with us. He loves us.

Jesus wept in the face of the resurrection. He isn’t here for us just in the future when we die, but He is here for us now with the comforting power of His Holy Spirit in our lives.

Mary and Martha went through pain to see the power of the resurrection, let us take hope from Jesus’ resurrection and realize our own resurrection will come as we grieve in the face of loss.