Jesus Wept
By Harold E. Brunson
Every human knows what it means to be stirred in the spirit and troubled in the soul in times of toil and trial, pain and sorrow. Certainly, the soul of the sinner knows, for "the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt" (Isa. 57:20).John 11:17-44 But even the righteous soul is often stirred and troubled. Yes, we may know that the Almighty Lord is He who raises the stormy wind and lifts up the towering waves. Yet, when storms do come into our lives, to paraphrase Psalm 107:27, we reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man. Thankfully, verses 28,29 reassure us: "Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still."
Almost to our disbelief, our Savior too can become stirred and troubled. We read in John 11:33, speaking of the day when Jesus went to Bethany in the wake of Lazarus' death: "When Jesus therefore saw her (Mary) weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled."
They that mourn. What stirred Him so powerfully, what troubled Him so deeply? Was it the grief that the mourners expressed? Was it Martha's and Mary's earnest but naive faith that said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died"? Was it the sight of Mary running out to meet Him and falling at His feet in sorrow and adoration? It was all these things, but most of all, it was their tears. It was upon seeing Mary weeping and the Jews weeping that Jesus groaned in the spirit.
What solace this is to the human souls that are stirred and troubled! The storms of trouble may hit us hard, and the billows of sorrow may roll within. But as the psalmist writes: "Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me" (42:7,8).
If we are weary in the way, He meets us at Jacob's well and gives us living water to drink. If life beats us up and leaves us for dead on the road to Jericho, He is the Good Samaritan that heals our wounds and secures for us safe lodging. And if we follow our loved ones to the tomb, His steady hand is upon the bier.
As Jesus wept at Lazarus' tomb, the mourners exclaimed, "Behold, how he loved him!" We, too, must exclaim, "Behold, how he loves us!" Our Savior, troubled and stirred, meets us at every turn of our lives, even in the places of our deepest despair. Like Mary and Martha, we may think that He is late in coming, but He never is. God is always exactly on timeon His time according to His own purpose.
Shall be comforted. Stirred and troubled though Jesus was at the sight of the mourners, His emotions never brimmed over the edge until He inquired after His beloved Lazarus: "Where have ye laid him?" It was only when He had been led to the tomb where Lazarus lay that Jesus wept.
For whom did Jesus weep, and why? For whom? Jesus wept for Lazarus, whose very name means "without help". Jesus wept for the helpless one who lay lifeless under sin's curse, the breathless one fallen under death's sway, behind the cold, heavy stone of finality, and within the dark chambers of irreversible circumstances. Jesus wept for the helpless one wrapped in grave clothes, bound hand and foot. Humanity's most desperate condition, this is where Jesus wept. And why does God thus weep at Lazarus' tomb? The mourners' sorrowful voices tell us, "Behold, how he loved him."
How about you? Are you among those whose souls lie dead in the tomb of depravity and who are wrapped in the grave clothes of iniquity, and never having heard the Savior's voice or sensed the powerful stirring of His troubled heart. Perhaps the weeping Savior has already commanded, "Take ye away the stone." And like the sound of many waters, he may be crying to you with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth! Come forth, you helpless one."
"Come forth," you who dwell under the curse of sin. "Come forth," you who are heading for eternal damnation. "Come forth" to that weeping Savior who alone can decree, "Loose him and let him go." "Come forth" weeping saint and dying sinner, "Come forth." "Come forth" to the Savior whose troubled soul stirs for thee. o
Dr. Harold Elliot Brunson, Jr. is pastor of The First Baptist Church of Parker, 5304 East Parker Road, Parker, Texas 75002.