Jesus Wept--A Morning Prayer Reflection

Below is the text from the reflection I gave today during Morning Prayer.

John 3:16 reads: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

This verse is arguably the most memorized, most widely advertised verse in the Bible.  It’s the verse you’re going to see written in the sand at the beach or plastered on t-shirts. 

It’s the perfect verse because it seems to sum up exactly what it means to be Christian.

Believe in Jesus.  Have eternal life.

But what if I told you, much like I did last week, that if this is all you believe, if this is all you think Jesus came to earth for … to die for our sins, to rise from the dead … you are thinking too small?

What? you say.  Too small?

Jesus performs all these miracles, suffers things worse than we could ever imagine, dies a horrible death and then conquers death, rising on the third day—this is thinking too small?

Yes, because if you only focus on these things, you’re only getting half of the picture.

Miracles, resurrections—these are all examples of Jesus’ divine nature.  He was the Son of God.  This is very important.

But what’s equally important is that Jesus was also human.

Let’s face it, Jesus’ humanity is not something that gets a lot of attention.  Indeed, if you’re a Gospel writer trying to convince people that Jesus and God are one, spending a whole lot of time on Jesus’ human nature seems like a waste of words.

But John’s Gospel, perhaps more so than the other three, spends quite a bit of time on Jesus’ humanity.

In fact, if John 3:16 is the most frequently quoted verse, it is another verse in John that holds the record for the shortest verse (in most English Language Bibles) and in just two words gives us insight into Jesus’ humanity unlike anything else we have read thus far.

John 11:35.

Jesus wept.

Let’s back up for some context.

In John chapter 11, Jesus gets word from Mary and Martha of Bethany that their brother, his friend Lazarus, is very ill and near death.

Now a couple of important things here.  Jesus had family and he had disciples, but he also had friends, friends who were followers, but people he was very close to.  Mary and Martha and Lazarus were part of this group.  Martha expects that Jesus will come right away when he hears Lazarus is sick, because she knows how much Jesus loves Lazarus and she knows that Jesus can heal him.

But for reasons that Jesus does not make clear to anyone at the time, he waits.

He waits two whole days before leaving.

By the time he gets to Mary and Martha, Lazarus has been dead and been buried for four days.

Martha rushes to greet Jesus and because Martha has never been shy about expressing herself, she immediately says to him, “Hey, where were you?  You could have saved my brother.”

And Jesus responds by questioning her faith and her beliefs.  He says to her in verses 25 and 26, “I am the resurrection and the life … do you believe this?”

And she answers in verse 27, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

What is John’s Gospel showing us here?  The Divine Jesus, the Son of God, the miracle worker, the Messiah, the savior of mankind.

But then something interesting happens.  Mary appears.  She asks Jesus the same question her sister did.  “Where were you?”  And then she begins to cry.

And the people with her begin to cry.

And then, in verse 35, “Jesus wept.”

Wow!

I mean, wow!

Think about this for a second.  Why include this part at all?  What does it add to the story?  How does it prove Jesus’ divinity, his message?

It doesn’t. 

It simply shows him as human, as wonderfully human, vulnerable and empathetic, capable of sharing in our pain even when he knows what he’s about to do next.

He knows he’s going to resurrect Lazarus.

He’s always known.

But even so, he breaks down crying when Mary breaks down crying.

How gloriously human!

I remember when I was six years old and broke my arm.  It hurt a lot.  But I didn’t cry until I saw my mom at the hospital and she was crying.

Is their anything more human than sharing someone’s pain?

And Jesus was about to do a whole lot more of that on the cross.

Jesus came to die for our sins, so that we might have eternal life.

But we weren’t born to simply die and then go to heaven.

We were born to live and then die and then see Jesus again.

We were born to be human.

Jesus’ humanity is just as important as his divinity because he shows us that our lives here on earth are not simply years of surviving, of just waiting patiently for death and resurrection.

God doesn’t want us to live a life of just surviving.  He wants us to thrive.

That’s why Jesus’ life here on earth is just as important as his death.

It’s why you see Jesus tempted in the desert.

It’s why you see Jesus, in today’s gospel reading, flipping the tables in the temple with a righteous anger.

It’s why you see Jesus tired and weary in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

It’s why you see him with friends like Lazarus and Mary and Martha.

It’s why you see him at wedding parties.

He lived the full human existence.

And this is so important.

Jesus wept.  He grieved.

He laughed.  He loved.

He lived.

Remember we are all beloved children of God.

Remember we are all children of light.

Remember we are all human.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Rejoice.

Amen.