Sunday, May 31, 2009

Jesus Wept

I have done a lot of crying today (The reasons for that shall be divulged soon enough but are not the point of this post.), and as such, John 11:35 has come to mind many times: "Jesus wept." As many of you know, this verse comes right after Lazarus dies, but before Jesus raises him back to life. Growing up in the church, I have heard many explanations for exactly WHY Jesus wept.

First, there is the explanation given by the Jews present at the time: "See how He loved him!" (v. 36)

Then there's the explanation that says, "Jesus wept because of the lack of faith of Mary, Martha and the other Jews."

Or this one: "Jesus wept because He was bringing Lazarus back from heaven."

There are many more explanations, I'm sure, and I'm not going to attempt to judge which of them are true and which aren't. However, I have my own opinion about one possible reason why Jesus wept.

I think Jesus wept simply to show us that it is okay for us to do so, too. I think He just wanted us to know that it's okay to cry. He gave us a glimpse of Himself at a place of sadness and vulnerability to emotions so that we would know that it's all right to be at that place sometimes. The Bible doesn't elaborate here on why Jesus wept. It doesn't give us an explanation or an insight into His thought process at that moment. It simply tells us, "Jesus wept." If we are supposed to be striving to be like Jesus and He wept, then I suppose it's all right (and even blessed, as He says in Matthew 5) for us to weep, too.

I'm sorry Jesus was sad, but personally, I'm glad He wept.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks Lindsay, of course, just like always, you encourage me with your words, and I'm glad I'm your friend and sister in Him. I know that the past couple of months has been hard for you, so much I can't imagine, but just remember James 1! :) Love you!

Brenda said...

Crying is a way of clensing our emotions and I think it is good. I too had done a lot of that over the past month. Mine comes and goes but is very refreshing whenI do have a good cry every now and then.
I think the fact that Jesus wept shows us that he was a real man with real emotions. I know there was a reason he did it, but it's just one of the many real sides to him that we can really relate to.

Times are though right now. We don't always know what is going to happen in our lives, but the good news is, we know how the story ends!!! We've read the book! Trusting is sometimes the hardest thing we do. By trusting we have to give up so much go God, but yet we grow in that too. I've grown so much over the past year just by giving things over to him and let him take total control. Did it make it easy? NO! But what it did was grow my faith in him more than I could imagine. By waiting on the Lord, we become changed. If we do what he commands, he will work in us ways that we cannot see.
Satan will tempt you. Believe me! He will! But stand firm in the only one who can save you. The only one that died for you. You are precious to him. Weep if you have to. But then rejoice in what God does in your life. You have so much to be thankful for. But when we have God as a huge part in our life, Satan will cloud the most precious things to us.

Let your light shine and keep your chin up. Remember who you are and where you came from and who you stand for. You are what God created you to be. And I love you for that.

Lindsay said...

Thank you, Brenda. I am really needing to be reminded of that right now. Thank you for the example that your faith and trust in Him are to me. You are a blessing. Love you!