Yet armed with this knowledge that we are not alone and that we are invited into the Divine life, we still struggle to comprehend the why of suffering. He lived and suffered in our our humanity, so that we might come to live His Divinity. This is certainly a great mystery, but it is also a great mercy that He should take our form, for we know we are not alone. It is the knowledge that Our Lord is fully human and lives every experience with us. On the surface this simple, short verse is one of sorrow, but it should actually be a source of great consolation to us. When we feel abandoned, He is the one who felt abandoned first. When we feel despair, He has already lived despair. Each wound we endure, He has already endured. He is living her sorrow with her, just as He lives in the midst of our pain and sorrow. The Lord of the Universe is weeping for His friend’s pain. Mary Magdalene falls at His feet exclaiming, “Lord, if you had been here…” Jesus sees His friend Magdalene weeping for her brother’s death, and He is moved with compassion. I think we can focus on what happened directly before verse 35. He knew this wasn’t the end, so why weep? But Jesus knew He was to raise his friend Lazarus. They interpret Jesus’ tears as mourning the death of His friend.
They said “See how he loved him” (verse 36). I think our human minds usually interpret this scene much the same way as the Jewish observers saw it. In the story of Lazarus and the family of Bethany, we see Jesus weep. How comforting in this time of great suffering and pain to know that Our Lord is in the midst of it all. He literally experiences our pain with us. They can relate to how we are feeling because they have undoubtedly experienced similar pain.īut Jesus doesn’t merely empathize with us in our pain.
Now when I weep, I know that Jesus lives those moments with me.Īs close as our friends and family may be to us, the best that they can offer us is empathy.
Thanks be to God, I have come to know that I am never alone, but especially in those times of deep sorrow. Weeping is a wholly human emotion and one that goes straight to the heart.įor a very long time in my life, I felt empty when I cried. But to me this verse epitomizes the humanity of Our Lord. I realize that may sound like a strange verse about which to feel so strongly. This week our prayer group has been meditating on the Gospel passage of the raising of Lazarus, which contains one of my favorite lines in the whole Bible, verse 35: “And Jesus wept.” And in general, my heart broke for the world, those who are risking their lives, those who are dying, those who don’t have hope in Christ. My mother’s heart felt burdened by the need to protect our children, overwhelmed by this sudden change in our lives and all the stress that has come with it. This time I prayed for grace and strength, and I wept. When I walk I often use that time to pray – I pour out my thoughts to God, tell Him how I am feeling, what’s going on, asking for His help with things. So, I went for a long walk around our neighborhood. I felt myself on the verge of tears, and I needed some time alone. Over the weekend the weight of our current situation began to take a toll on me.
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