For the grieving

      Grief is hard.  Really hard.  Words can't fully describe the pain and any attempt to always falls short.  Recently, several friends of mine have lost loved ones, husbands, fathers, and even a child.  The deep grief and pain is almost crippling and watching them walk through this valley is so hard.  My heart hurts for them.  As believers in Christ, we know God understands, but sometimes that can feel distant and sound trite.

I’ve been thinking about John 11:35 “Jesus wept.”  It’s the shortest verse in the Bible, yet holds a depth of meaning and significance that we often don’t take time to ponder.    On the surface, it confirms a bit of Jesus’ humanity, yet there is so much more to these two words.  What do they say to us?

The context of the story is that Lazarus, the good friend of Jesus and brother to Mary and Martha was sick.  Friends told Jesus this was so before it was too late…before Lazarus died.  Jesus could have intervened and healed Lazarus, restoring him to health, but He didn’t.  He waited.  Lazarus died.  Jesus wept in grief. 

Jesus wept…think about that.  He was God in flesh.  He was all-knowing and all-powerful, yet he wept in grief and sorrow.  He wept, not because He couldn’t change it or because it was out of His control and He grieved the sorry outcome, but because He identified with the grieving.  Jesus had the power to heal before Lazarus died, really, He could have just spoken the word without even going to Lazarus’ side (see Luke 7)  But Jesus waited and allowed Lazarus’ illness to take its course…and take his life. 

So why DID Jesus weep and why didn’t he intervene sooner to avoid this grieving?  I think this is where we need to look deeper.

1. Jesus fulfilled prophecy.  Isaiah 53:3 says “He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief”   Strong’s concordance notes that the word ‘acquainted’ means “to know by experience”.  We have a God who personally experienced grief and grieving.  He can comfort us because He too grieved the loss of one he loved.  He wasn’t outside of the experience, looking on and offering platitudes, He was immersed in it personally.  He grieved personally.

2. Jesus used this to show us his humanity. If Jesus, throughout his ministry, consistently intervened to ward off all tragedy, pain, and grief for others, he would have created an unrealistic picture of the life we face.  We can’t avoid tragedy and pain.   It is part of life in this world marred by sin. But Jesus knows, He understands that part of life and offers comfort.  Psalm 23:4 “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

3. Jesus was sharing the grief of others and setting the example of how to comfort and grieve.  He KNEW Lazarus would live again- He’d already planned that, yet he wasn’t going to Mary and Martha and saying ‘there, there, don’t cry, it’ll be okay, look, I’ll bring him back’.  He grieved with them, honestly and genuinely.  He didn’t dismiss their pain.  He acknowledged it and walked with them through it.  His heart was broken because theirs were broken.  He was demonstrating Galatians 6:2 “carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

4. Jesus mourned the greater issue of sin’s effect on the world and His creation.  The fall of man into sin (Genesis 3) started a process of decay, moral, physical, spiritual, that wouldn’t be undone.  It would cause death, pain and grief and the only remedy was a blameless holy sacrifice to pay the price, once for all.  Jesus knew HE was that sacrifice and His death would bring the freedom from sin and its eternal effects.  He knew his death would bring the ultimate comfort for the effects of sin.  The event of Lazarus’ death was a foreshadowing of what was to come.  Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”  The effects of sin wouldn't be undone in this world, but the remedy to redeem us from it would soon be revealed.

5. Jesus demonstrated that He is the source of comfort, healing, and deliverance.  As the story unfolds, Jesus encourages the family first, then He specifically goes to the tomb and raises Lazarus from the dead.  Lazarus wasn’t just ‘mostly dead’, he was days-in-the-grave, stinking, decaying dead.  Yet Jesus is intentional throughout the situation to use it for His glory and to demonstrate His power and His salvation. He didn't remove the grief, but He walked through it with them and He promises He will do that for us, too.  2 Corinthians 1:3-4  "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." 

      I know God uses these times of grief to pull us in and show us He is our ultimate source of strength and comfort, even in the midst of deep sorrow.  God walks with us through that valley, and He offers words of comfort, not from just a position of knowledge, but from experience.  He grieved.  He wept.  He understands.  We can pour our heart and pain out to Him and He grieves with us.  The pain isn't without purpose and it can refine us to be more like Jesus.  That’s an amazing God!

     

     Is this an exhaustive study of this scripture?  No.  But my hope is that by reading and pondering this, you’ll be moved to dive in and study more.  Learn about Jesus.  See that He is God in the flesh and note the ways He demonstrated both his humanity and His holiness.  Recognize how He used this Lazarus event to demonstrate that HE is the resurrection and the life.  HE is the light of the world.  HE is the atonement for sin, once for all.  And He is our ultimate source of comfort and strength.

     

     By believing in and following Jesus, you have unending access to perfect comfort, peace, resurrection, and life.  He is the remedy from the effects of sin that are the catalyst for pain and grief.

     Yes, Jesus wept, but then he conquered death. 

     Lean into that today, find comfort and run to the One who can bring life and light.

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