John 11:1-37 (New Living Translation)
1 A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2 This is the Mary who poured the expensive perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3 So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, "Lord, the one you love is very sick." 4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, "Lazarus's sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God. I, the Son of God, will receive glory from this." 5 Although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6 he stayed where he was for the next two days and did not go to them. 7 Finally after two days, he said to his disciples, "Let's go to Judea again." 8 But his disciples objected. "Teacher," they said, "only a few days ago the Jewish leaders in Judea were trying to kill you. Are you going there again?" 9 Jesus replied, "There are twelve hours of daylight every day. As long as it is light, people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. 10 Only at night is there danger of stumbling because there is no light." 11 Then he said, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up." 12 The disciples said, "Lord, if he is sleeping, that means he is getting better!" 13 They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was having a good night's rest, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. 14 Then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sake, I am glad I wasn't there, because this will give you another opportunity to believe in me. Come, let's go see him." 16 Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let's go, too -- and die with Jesus." 17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to pay their respects and console Martha and Mary on their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask." 23 Jesus told her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 "Yes," Martha said, "when everyone else rises, on resurrection day." 25 Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again. 26 They are given eternal life for believing in me and will never perish. Do you believe this, Martha?" 27 "Yes, Lord," she told him. "I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God." 28 Then she left him and returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, "The Teacher is here and wants to see you." 29 So Mary immediately went to him. 30 Now Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. 31 When the people who were at the house trying to console Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus's grave to weep. So they followed her there. 32 When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell down at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, he was moved with indignation and was deeply troubled. 34 "Where have you put him?" he asked them. They told him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Then Jesus wept. 36 The people who were standing nearby said, "See how much he loved him." 37 But some said, "This man healed a blind man. Why couldn't he keep Lazarus from dying?"
I copied all this from the NLT to zero in on John 11:35, "Jesus wept." It is the shortest verse in the bible yet a most powerful one.
What could possibly bring our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to weeping? Was it because Lazarus was dead? No, see verse 14, Christ knew (before anyone had told him) that Lazarus was dead. To go a step further, Jesus announced, in verse 4, it was "for the Glory of God" and then later in verse 11 Jesus said he was going to go wake Lazarus up. Should we not have had the confidence and assurity that Christ was going to do what he said he would? That if we just have faith and believe in him, God will be glorified, and that we are given eternal life. Jesus himself was standing right here with them, they could reach out and touch him and yet they did not believe his words. When he came to the area where Lazarus was laid and saw all the weeping and mourning even though he, Christ had said he would wake him up, Jesus was "moved to indignation and was deeply troubled" (vs 33). Why could we just not believe, are we of such little to no faith. With the Son of God standing right there, the people didn't believe. Could it be that Christ was weeping for us? Yes, maybe, and the fight we have against sin and the darkness of this world. We need to realize, Christ is right here with us today, standing strong at our side. We need only to believe and stand strong knowing He is here and will do what He said He will do.
In addition, there was some of His enemies there watching to see what He would do. Some scholars believe that He was brought to tears for the compassion of those who were in such sorrow around Him, even with him there. This action showed His enemies the love and compassion He had for his people. Why is that important? Because it is another lesson for us in our attempts to become more Christ like. To show our love and compassion for others as Christ has for us.
Our salvation we have in Christ does not mean we will not suffer hard times or never deal with death, but if we stand strong in Christ we have a guarentee of eternal life with Him. I believe that the tough times in life are not near as tough when you have Christ to lean on and gain strength from Him that loves us so much.
Blessings on all,
Calabash
Blessings on all,
Calabash
