One of the shortest verses in the Bible is John 11:35, which is “Jesus Wept.” However, though it is the shortest verse in the Bible, it is one of the verses in the Bible with a profound theological depth. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus has died and was buried for four days, having encountered the weeping sisters and their consoling friends, Jesus was deeply moved in his spirit, greatly troubled and then wept.
When reading this story, how often have we thought “Jesus wept” as part of Jesus’ humanity, masking Jesus’ divinity at this point and even discounting it. In fact, the sisters Martha and Mary when saying to Jesus, “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:32), they both were acknowledging the divinity of Jesus and were speaking to the divine Jesus. All I want to say is that it is the divine who is weeping on hearing the death of his friend and on meeting the weeping family and friends.
So, when “Jesus wept” it is the divine who is weeping, and the questions that come to the front are can the divine weep? And what is the relevance of God’s weeping ?
The divine whom we know in Jesus is a God who has tears, who gets moved by people’s grief and by the creation’s groans, and weeps with them in solidarity.
The divine whom we know in Jesus is a God who knows what it means to weep, and so never disrespects nor discards tears, but joins with us in our weeping offering hope and consolation.
The divine whom we know in Jesus when wept with Mary, Martha and their friends for the death of Lazarus was not questioning why death nor was consoling the family “don’t worry Lazarus is in a better place” but genuinely joined with them in facing the reality of death by weeping with them in their loss.
Though statics have proven that there is 100% success rate of certainty of all human beings dying, there is a sense of fear in facing death for humanity. However, the divine whom we know in Jesus when wept for the death of Lazarus is calling us to face death in all courage and is inviting us to get busy living, knowing Jesus is the resurrection and life.
As followers of Jesus Christ, let us learn to weep with the weeping, knowing God weeps with us to support us in those moments of grief & trouble. Weeping is spiritual, weeping is Christian, weeping is divine, weeping is human and weeping is sensible. If we have lost heart for weeping, perhaps it is time to reclaim that calling asking God to ‘melt our cold hearts and let tears fall like a rain.’
@rajpatta
26th March 2023
1 comment:
Wow ! Blessed Read Anna. Thank You
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