Jesus Wept

Meditation on John 11:32-44         

Merritt Island Presbyterian Church

All Saint’s Day: Nov. 1, 2015

      “When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’  Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”

***

           Wow! Halloween in Florida is way more fun than Halloween in Minnesota! This must have been the first Halloween ever that I did not need to wear a coat! People go all out with decorations around here. An enormous blow up cat in one neighbor’s yard. Owl eyes and blinking Draculas showing through front windows. Cobwebs and spiders in trees; bones and tombstones on the lawns. The costumes were fantastic, too. It’s not just the kids dressing up; the adults really get into it! We saw witches, Ninja Turtles, Storm Troopers, even a clown on a bicycle as we took our dogs for their evening stroll! As we walked, we noticed many of our neighbors were sitting out on lawn chairs in their driveways with their candy, waiting for Trick or Treaters to come by. This was after we spent a joyful hour at Trunk ‘N Treat, here at MIPC.

   The week didn’t start out so happily, though. I found myself missing the ones I love. I am going through this new, “empty nest” thing. You see, two of our children still lived at home with us when we were in Minnesota. Jacob now lives in Port Orange and our youngest son, James, stayed in Minnesota to finish college. He hasn’t decided if he will be moving to Florida after he graduates. I look for James at every worship service because he used to sit in a pew near the front. He often looked like he had just woken up and his hair was still wet from the shower, but it made me feel good to see him in church.

       On Monday, Jacob came to visit us for a few hours ,and I talked to James on the phone. But somehow, talking with them made me miss them more.

      On my way to the church Tuesday morning, rain splashed on my windows--and the sadness hit me in waves. I remembered James’ tears when we left and thinking of how our family has become scattered. Our son, Josh, lives in California. Danny, Hiu-Fai, and baby Jessi are in Boston. Jim’s sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew and their kids are in New York City.

   It was the first time I allowed myself to grieve since we arrived. For how can I grieve when my cup runneth over with blessings?! I have a wonderful husband, a gracious congregation, parents living an hour away. How can anyone not want to live and minister in such a beautiful place?

     I was grieving not just the separation from my children, but also my faith family at Ebenezer--the people I had to leave behind when I heeded God’s call to minister here. They were my flock and they were my friends. We shared joys and sorrows. We loved one another.

    On Monday, my friend Stacy sent me a note that during their bedtime prayers, her 9-year old son, Riley, had prayed for me! When she had first broke the news to him in September that I was leaving, he was inconsolable. And now he was praying that I was having a good time in Florida, teaching! :o)

     On Tuesday morning, I thought about little Riley and everyone I had left behind. And I started to cry.

***

     We have this image in the Church that ministers are not people like us; they certainly don’t cry! And sometimes the Church may have given the erroneous impression that if one grieves or cries, then one lacks faith! Today’s Scripture blows away all notions of grief being a failure of faith. Because Jesus cries! And Jesus, the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world, never sinned! He cries over the loss of Lazarus, a “friend” we read in John 11:11. His sisters, in their note summoning Jesus in 11:3, call Lazarus “the man whom you love.” In 11:5, we read of Jesus’ tender feelings for all three siblings, “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.”

   Jesus cries for Lazarus, and he cries for the community who mourns their loss. He sees Mary and the Jews, the people of the community who come to comfort her, weeping, and “he (is) greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” Jesus asks where they have laid him, much like Mary will ask Jesus in John 20 when she thinks he is the gardener and discovers her Lord’s body missing.  The Jews mourning Lazarus tell Jesus, “Come and see.” Mary will say these same words to the disciples in John 20 when she finds Christ’s empty tomb.

      In John 11:35 in the NRSV translation, we read, “Jesus began to weep.” In the King James, we read the simple yet powerful, “Jesus wept.” We see Christ’s humanity in this passage, but we also see the God who loves us, who is greatly moved by our suffering and sorrow. He is NOT some far off God who created the world and now waits and watches from above, feeling nothing as we struggle with trials and pain!

      Mary and Martha’s grief is compounded because they can’t understand why Jesus hadn’t hurried to get to the young man when they sent word to Jesus that he was gravely ill. For Jesus waited 2 days after hearing that Lazarus was sick before departing for Bethany, where the family lived. Jesus had let them down! Where was he when they needed him? Why would the one who had the power to heal the lame, blind, sick, and demon possessed, allow this terrible thing to happen?

    And yet, can you hear the power of their faith? They truly believe that Jesus could have and would have healed their brother, if only he had come right away. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” Martha says in John 11:21. Mary kneels at Christ’s feet, in today’s passage, and echoes Martha’s words, “‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’  

   Christ’s reasoning for the delay in coming to them? So they would see the glory of God!

***

     Friends, like Mary and Martha, some of you may be hurting right now, feeling that God has let you down, wondering if He really cares about you. Some may be wondering if your grief and pain means that you aren’t being faithful. Be comforted by God’s Word! We, like Lazarus, have the hope of resurrection with Christ. And we have a Lord who is greatly moved by the suffering and sorrow we experience in this world. For what was his response to the death of his beloved friend?

      Jesus wept.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for always listening to our prayers and for loving us so much that you sent Jesus Christ to bring us back to you. Forgive us for our angry accusations, for when we want to blame you for the hurt in our lives. Forgive us when we have accused you of not caring--or for not being there with us, when you always love us and are always with us. Thank you for weeping with us and helping us to bear our grief and suffering that we could not bear alone. Thank you for this Body of Christ that loves one another and cares for one another, through all joys and sorrows. Thank you for children such as Riley, who are faithful to pray. Unbind us all from whatever constrains us from living with the confidence of the children of God, reaching out with love to this hurting world. In Christ we pray. Amen.