Jesus wept. John 11:35
Lord Jesus, we all know this verse answers the question, “What’s the shortest verse in the Bible?” But it’s also a candidate for the most profound and comforting verse in the Scriptures. Your compassionate tears, shed outside of Lazarus’s tomb, are one of the greatest showers that ever fell upon the face of the earth. Those tears mean a lot to me today, having buried a friend yesterday. Thank you for taking Walter safely and surely home.
You knew that within a matter of moments, Lazarus would breathe again and walk again, and that you’d get to enjoy his company again. Yet you passionately wept in the presence of his death. It was well spoken, by those honored to see your sacred fury and great sadness, “See how he loved him!” (John 11:36)
Thank you for loving us with the same tenderness and passion; and thank you for comforting us when we experience many different expressions of death—loss of life and loss of love; the death of dreams and longings, hope and trust; the burial of what once was and what may never be.
Indeed, no one hates death more than you—no one feels its horrid implications more profoundly. No one grieves its ugly violation more deeply. No one longs for the day of “no more death” more earnestly than you (Rev. 21:4). No one has done more to secure death’s obliteration.
Jesus, today I’m so thankful we know you as “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Your death was the death of death itself—the last enemy (1 Cor. 15:26). And because of your resurrection, we sing in advance of our resurrection, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55) Death is now working backwards, with a view to the Day when all things will be new forever.
We praise you and exalt you. We rest our oftentimes heavy, confused, grieving hearts in your loving hands. So very Amen I pray, in your grave-robbing name.
