Tears of Love, Our Baptism into Life!
Jesus wept. John 11:35
To me, these are the most beautiful two words of all of Scripture.
For sure ALL of Scripture is core shaking AWESOME! All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ALL of it!!!!
But this one… Jesus wept… is the moment I KNEW I was His. I’ve cried a few tears here and there. I’ve been touched by the emotions of many events in life but this – WEEPING as Jesus wept – had never happened before.
I wasn’t studying the Bible – I was an infant when it came to Scripture. I wasn’t reading a commentary on the event of Lazarus’ sickness and the call for Jesus to come, “ Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” John 11:3.
These two words were simply a statement in a “toddler” Bible Study… the shortest verse of the Bible… Jesus wept. (John 11:5).
The waterfall began – not wailing – gentle tears, but more than I had ever shed in any life event. Not grief – not pain – not even an awareness of why Jesus was weeping. The ONLY THING I KNEW was that Jesus had His hand upon me and the tears of God flowed through me!
Today of course (38 years later) I sometimes do delve a little deeper into Scripture. As I was getting ready to blog (Website Wednesday) and wondering if inspiration would come, two words came to mind… Jesus wept… today I dive deeper into His tears of love, our Baptism into life!
The event… Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.” John 11:1-2
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.John 11:5-6 Don’t we all wonder sometimes, “What took You so long, God!”? Our definition of love is BUT I NEED it!!! IMMEDIATELY!!!
Though it wasn’t Martha’s and Mary’s preferred timing, Jesus did go… Then after this He *said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” WHOA!!! The disciples *said to Him, “ Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?”John 11:7-8 It’s dangerous!!! He *said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.” John 11:11 But, WAIT!!! “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.” John 11:12-15 OHHH!!! Ok, if You say so… Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.” John 11:16
Do any of us ever understand God’s way? Do any of us ever think like God? Do any of us really know what God should do? Jesus knew what He was doing! Every moment of the event. The call to come, the waiting, the journey, the threat to His life, the people He loved who were breathlessly waiting for His power to heal their beloved Lazarus.
When Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “ Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:32) How many of us believe that with God all things are possible, yet like Mary, assume His power stops on this side of life – the earthly side? When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” (John 1:33-34)
Did you see it? He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled… what was His response? Jesus wept…
And the people responded as most of us would. So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?” John 11:35-37
Do you see Jesus weeping? What’s your take on it?
He was grieved at the response of people who knew Him? He was a man, and men do not take it well when a woman is crying? He felt their sadness and grieved with them?
Though I do believe He saw and noted every tear so that in eternity He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4
I also believe that in His weeping, the people experienced the same thing I did when I wept with Him. Not His tears of grief or sadness or disappointment, though there was opportunity for all of those tears. I believe Jesus wept tears of LOVE. A LOVE so deep it gathers us to His heart and baptizes us into His LIFE.
A LOVE so profound He weeps as He calls us from the grave. He cries out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” John 11:43
Thirty Eight years later I now know, I wept tears of joy because His love released me from the grave clothes. The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” John 11:44
Like Lazarus I came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and my face was wrapped around with cloth so I could not see.
I wept with Jesus as His tears of LOVE unbound me and set me free!
“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. John 11:27
**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.