The Resurrection at Bethany - Jesus Weeps

Jesus wept. John 11:35 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/jhn.11.35.NIVUK To completely mis-quote Winston Churchill, never in the field of human communication has so much been communicated to so many by words that are so few. These are just two words - three in the original Greek - and one of them is only mentioned once in the entire New Testament. Jesus shed tears. He cried. He wept. The Greeks held that their gods were apathetic. They did not feel or respond to other people's feelings. But not Jesus. Three times in this passage - yes, three - He reacts to this sad situation with deep emotion: 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. Then the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. John 11:33‭-‬38 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/jhn.11.33-38.NIVUK Jesus actually felt something. And not for the first time. There are moments in the Bible where He feels frustration (Matthew 17:17; Luke 9:41), anger (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; John 2:13-17) and deep sorrow (Luke 22:43-44). The very idea that 'gentle Jesus, meek and mild' never felt strong emotion is just plain wrong. He felt it alright. But as the Greek word for 'wept' implies, it was under control. He kept it on a leash and did not sin because of it. What Jesus felt is clear. He felt pain and sorrow and anger and frustration at how the pain of living in a fallen world had affected His friends. We understand that. But the wider question is 'Why?'. Why did Jesus feel this? After all, there are signs before Jesus even left for Bethany that He not only knew that Lazarus was going to die, but He also knew He was going to raise him from the dead (John 11:11-16). If Jesus knew He was about to bring deep joy and utter astonishment into His friends' lives, why feel such deep sorrow and anger now? The reason is simple but profound. Jesus wept because they wept. He felt sorrow because they felt sorrow. He felt anger because they had been broken by despair. Grief and anguish had touched those dearest to Him and He did not remain unmoved by this. Instead, He stood with them in their troubles and felt their pain. This is not just a reality for His closest friends. The writer to the Hebrews wrote these words: Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:14‭-‬16 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.4.14-16.NIVUK We find grace to help us because Jesus has felt our pain! He knows every iota of how it feels! He sympathises with us. He feels our weakness. Isaiah gave this prophecy about Jesus: Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Isaiah 53:4 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/isa.53.4.NIVUK Do we realise the full implications of this? It means that He bears our pain, our sorrow, our alienation. He doesn't bear them in a big bag on His shoulders. No. He bears them because He feels them. And where does He bear them? The Cross (Isaiah 53:4‭-‬5). When you suffer (note: not if, but when), one of the elements that makes it so hard is not having someone who understands, who truly understands, what it feels like to be you. When children don't get their own way, they cry, and after a while, they keep crying even when they forget why it was they started crying in the first place. Teenagers often feel sad and cry and can't figure out why when their hormones are bubbling up and erupting inside them like a volcano about to blow. Adults find ourselves in a whole cocktail of situations and struggle to communicate how we're feeling to others. And in the middle of this maelstrom and mess, whenever someone crosses our path and tries to comfort us with trite and pithy phrases, we feel a massive, boiling sense of anger and injustice brewing inside us and we want to blow our top and scream, "But you don't understand!" There are always people like that. There are many who just don't 'get it', who have to be right and feel superior at any cost. That experience, and many others like it, have taught me that when people behave like this, they are only fit for three things: one, our sympathy, as people will be wary of them and generally keep their distance; two, our forgiveness, as the last thing we should do for people whose hearts are so hardened is to give them the capacity to hurt us further; three, to be ignored. If someone cares so little for you that they spend zero time trying to understand your situation and an infinite amount of time trying to tell you what they think is best, then their counsel is worthless. But the beautiful thing in this passage is that we have someone who understands, who truly understands, how it feels to be us. And that person is Jesus Christ. Yes, waiting can be painful. After losing that sale, it took us another five years to sell our apartment. We know first hand how hard patience us. Yes, waiting can be gruelling. But the Word of God tells us there is someone who stands beside us and weeps with us. And that person is Jesus Christ. But there is still more. We find this teaching in the Bible about the church - the body of Christ: If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. 1 Corinthians 12:26 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/1co.12.26.NIVUK Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Romans 12:15 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.12.15.NIVUK We must understand this. There are many in our midst who are really hurting as a result of Covid-19. When we stand beside them, set aside our 'heroic' attempts to give them the piece of advice that changes their lives and simply cry with them, then we are not just being a good friend. No, we are being like Jesus to them. There is an old song that begins: "What a friend we have in Jesus All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer!" Christ didn't just bear our sins to the cross. He also bore our suffering, our pain, our loneliness, our despair, our grief, our alienation, our sense of loss, our angst, our frustration, our guilt, our shame. He felt it all. He bore it all. And this amazing Gospel truth gives us confidence to come to Him with all our burdens and lay them at His feet, calm in the knowledge that He understands better than anyone and cries with us. But there is a sting in the tail. He calls us to stand beside those who suffer and cry with them too. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/gal.6.2.NIVUK Jesus wept. And that is one of the most awesome truths in the Word of God. But are we also willing to weep with those who weep? Are we willing to silence the sound of our voice so they can hear the sound of our sobbing? Are we willing to be the Body of Christ? Having seen that Jesus waited and wept, we will now see that JESUS WORKS