Wept

He was “deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled.” (John 11:33).

Resurrection of Lazarus (Henry Ossawa Tanner)

I was so sad the other day.  Nothing terrible had happened.  Life was continuing on in the normal way.  But I was so terribly sad that I almost could not bear it.

There were the usual problems with me children and family and those normal problems were overwhelming…  They were so overwhelming in my mind that I was almost reduced to tears and I felt very alone.  And then it occurred to me that I was not the only one to weep…  “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35).

In front of the tomb of Lazarus – knowing that Lazarus would soon rise from the dead – even then – Christ wept.

Even knowing that there was a solution.  Even knowing that Lazarus was going to step out of the grave.  Even knowing that the weeping of his sisters would soon turn to joy, even knowing that Christ wept.

He was “deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled.” (John 11:33).

Christ was troubled because he entered into the sorrow and the grief.  He did not stand outside that moment – even knowing what was to come.  And this is like everything.  You see, if Lazarus was not raised from the dead, he still would have been saved.  And this means that Christ – knowing that there was a HAPPY ENDING no matter what happened – either through Lazarus’ resurrection or through his eternity in Heaven, still entered into the grief.

Christ was actively engaged in that grief and sorrow twenty centuries ago, and He is actively engaged in my grief and sorrow now.  He does not skip over it because the resurrection is ahead.  He knows that the grief is as much part of the story of the redemption as the joy of the resurrection is.

There is a transformation in the grief of the Messiah.  By entering into the human grief of the sisters, Christ is able to not only lead us to salvation, but to lead us with an understanding of our own weak nature.  He feels with us the sting of the Fall of Humanity.  He knows that the heartbreak of this world – though fleeting – deserves His full attention.

And I have been thinking about that today.  For it seems such an extraordinary miracle that the God who created the Heavens and the Earth should bother to walk beside me in my grief – as small as it is.  It seems such an exceptional thing to have the God of the universe bother Himself to understand my simple little matter that is so insignificant in the scheme of eternity.

And yet, that is the humble love of my Father…  He loves me through my grief – crying with me.  And He acts – with me, weeping, because those tears that He wept did not make Him weaker, they made Him stronger.  And that strength is what sets me free…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.