Still in Glorieta at what has turned out to be a really great event with 1200 college students and leaders. Yesterday morning I shared from a text and has become really dear to me. John 11 is the well known story of when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. But before doing so, the Son of God did something else miraculous…
He wept.
Can you imagine it? God weeping? Amazing. It’s a picture that reminds us that God does not sit on His throne simply telling us to “Do better;” “Be better;” “Stop complaining about your problems.” This is a picture of the closeness of God. Here we see Jesus, though He knows He will turn Lazarus’ funeral into a party, pausing to weep alongside a grieving sister.
We have the tendency as Christians to not give each other permission to grieve loss in our lives. We tell each other that everything will be okay in heaven someday, or that God is using this tragic event in our lives for His glory. Those things may be true, but notice that Jesus does neither in this passage. He offers no theological explanation for suffering. He does not offer a Hallmark card of sympathy. Instead, He weeps.
I say again – amazing. We follow a Jesus who knows the end of the story, yet He engages emotionally with us in the meantime.
Michael,
Thanks for this message. It was powerful. I think it caused me to reflect deeply on the whole “He could but He didn’t” conflict. Thanks for your own study and reflection that brought such deep meaning and blessing to us all.
I posted about it here.
Thanks, Jeff, for linking. Yeah, that “He could but He didn’t” truth is tough to digest. It gets even tougher when you consider all the people Jesus encountered who didn’t get healed.
Through our own journey, we have been surprised at how little the question of “why” really meant to us. Feels like it should have meant more, but I think in the middle of pain sometimes you just want to be out of it rather than understand it.
Praying God helps us look deeper…
mk
i’m a worship pastor at a collegiate church in pullman washington (home of washington state university). we brought about 30 students and your teaching has blessed, challenged, and provoked us to walk nearer with jesus. and as you know a step nearer to jesus can be quite the epic journey.
“we serve not a god who reigns in heaven and yells at his people, but a God who is willing to weep in the dirt with us.”
“jesus knew the end of the story and he weeps anyways.”
“because life is a group project.”
genius man. genius.
thanks for speaking a language that fits even in the context of church planting in the northwest.
grace and peace
josh
pullmanprogress.blogspot.com
Thanks for your kind words, Josh – got a special place in my heart for you washington guys. My brother was a professor at WState for a year. Looking forward to checking out your church –
mk