Monday Morning 6/4/2012 - For the Rissers

God knows it's Monday. God knows the weekend was either too short or too long. God knows if we hurt, we laughed, or both. God knows the decisions we made and the decisions we didn't make. God knows.

It’s the shortest verse in the Bible. The Apostle John records an event that is so full of emotion and drama and he is able to reduce it to two words: “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)

 Of course, we all know the rest of the story. Lazarus dies, he’s buried, and four days later, Jesus raises him from the dead. But the day Jesus wept is a day we should take note of a couple things.

First, Jesus could have been there BEFORE Lazarus died. The story clearly shows that Jesus knew Lazarus would die. Jesus KNEW before Lazarus even got sick that Lazarus was going to die.

Jesus did great miracles and healings, and most of those were not planned ahead of time. However the way Jesus responded when He heard that Lazarus was sick tells us Jesus knew what He was doing. Notice before the disciples knew Lazarus had died Jesus told them: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

And then, Jesus waits two more days after leaning Lazarus had died before going to the family. Both Mary and Martha seemed to think if Jesus had come earlier, Lazarus would not have died.  And they were right! They knew that Jesus had already healed people and even had raised at least two people from the dead.  So they sent for Jesus immediately. But He did not come.  Lazarus died.

And then when Jesus does arrive and sees Mary and Martha upset and crying. Jesus joins in. Jesus wept.
Now, if Jesus knew ahead of time Lazarus was going to die, why weep? And if He knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, even before he arrives at the grave, why shed tears?

Why would He weep? Well, He wept because He saw Mary and the others weeping. It broke His heart.
This shows us something. It shows there may be times when it feels like Jesus does not show up when we think we need Him the most. We don’t like that idea. We are not comfortable with it. But He is with us, weeping for us, grieving for us. We’re hurting. We’re suffering. We’re losing. And when that happens there’s a part of us that wants to say: “Jesus… if you’d only been here this wouldn’t have happened!”

There are times that God allows us to be uncomfortable in our lives. God allows things we don’t like to happen. He has His reasons but most times it’s because He has something He wants to change in our life. He wants to “fix” something. He wants to heal something. And it’s because ahead of time He knows something better can happen.

And that was what Jesus did for Lazarus. Jesus brought suffering into Lazarus’ life to give his life a greater purpose. People knew Lazarus was a close family friend. But, from the day Jesus raised him from the dead, Lazarus went from being a friend to becoming a partner in His ministry! It was when Jesus came to Lazarus’ grave that He declared His most powerful statement of His ministry: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26

And we’re told that – because Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead: “Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.” (John 11:45)

So when Jesus didn’t show up before Lazarus died, there was a reason. Jesus wanted to bring about the faith of those for whom He was going to die.

But still, Jesus wept. Why? Its Because God takes no pleasure in our suffering. He knows our pain and sorrows. And even when He allows us to suffer for our own good He knows it hurts us and He’s saddened because of what we go through.

That’s why Jesus wept.

Romans 8:26 says, that when we don’t know what to say or how to say something, the Holy Spirit’s job in our lives is to communicate the depths of our emotions to God the Father. There will be times in our lives when we may not know how to express our pain and suffering. And even if we could put those feelings into words – it wouldn’t begin to touch how deeply we hurt.

But that doesn’t matter! When Jesus is Savior and Lord of our life, God KNOWS precisely how you and I feel at every moment in our lives.

He cares for you.
He understands you.
He loves you so much He wants you to know that He feels your deepest sorrows.

My Father in Law, Mahlon Risser, is a man of God. He has been an example and model for me as a man, father, husband, and Christian. In this time of waiting and sorrow as Mahlon continues to minister to His family from a hospital bed, we can know that God knows, God cares, and God loves us so much.