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.
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)
Those tears mean a lot to me today, as my first cousin, Mike, is planted in the soil of your good earth—a precious seed awaiting the Day of resurrection. Thank you for saving him by your grace while he lived. Thank you for taking Mike safely and surely Home. His pain is over, his mind is clear, his heart is whole, his spirit is dancing.
Thank you for loving Mike, and all of us, with the same tenderness and passion with which you loved Lazarus. 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 and dying” more earnestly than you (Rev. 21:4). No one has done more to secure death’s obliteration.
Jesus, today we are 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, Jesus. We rest our often-heavy, sometimes-confused, grieving hearts in your loving hands. So very Amen I pray, in your grave-robbing name.
