John 11. 32-36


We've been looking at different aspects of Jesus' Advent for the last
several weeks and will do the same today. I know that it isn't the Advent
season, but that doesn't mean that I can't preach on Jesus' coming. Who
knows? I just might preach on Jesus' resurrection next week. Today, we add
another aspect to our list. Jesus came to show us how to cry. In this and
other ways Jesus gives us the example of right living that we need. My
concern is this: If we would be truly human, truly Christian, we must weep
when we look at our world. That isn't all that we need to do, as I'll also
show you, but it is a necessary first step.

Our text is certainly familiar to most of you. But I think that our common
image of what happened is off. I think that it's safe to say that most
people imagine Jesus standing at Lazarus' tomb as a few tears trickled down
His cheeks. But I don't that that is necessarily what happened. Consider the
way that the Old Testament describes men weeping. 'He lifted up his voice
and wept.' You don't have any image of a man with a few trickling tears
here. What we have here is sobbing and the expression of deep grief. Tears
might trickle down when you get to the sad part of the movie. But it makes
sense to lift up your voice and weep when you see your best friend in a
casket. I think that we are closer to what happened when we think of Jesus'
weeping in these terms.

There are two other places where we read about Jesus' tears. First, Hebrews
5. 'In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications,
with loud cries and tears ...' Here, the text is quite clear: 'loud cries
and tears'. That makes a lot of sense when you realize that this is about
the Garden of Gethsemane. The phrase reflects Jesus' response of deep
emotion. And then, there is Luke 19 where we find Jesus' tears in the
context of judgment. 'And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over
it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things
that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days
will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and
surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground,
you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon
another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation."' Here
are three places where we see Jesus weeping. It is noteworthy that while the
New Testament informs us of Jesus' tears we never read that Jesus laughed.
It would be wrong to conclude from this that Jesus never laughed. There are
many things that Jesus must have done that we are never informed of. But it
does seem that the New Testament writers wanted to emphasize His tears.
Jesus' comment on how those who laugh now will be cursed fits here. [See
Luke 6.] He really was – and is – a 'man of sorrows'.

These three situations reflect three different categories. In John 11, Jesus
is responding to death. Please keep in mind that death is so much more than
the destruction of the body. It is the destruction of the person. Death
includes the destruction of relationships. Death destroys a relationship
with God, with others, as well as the relationship of body and soul. Death
is all around. It's just that the climax is the funeral. At that point, the
death of the self as well as the death of friendships is complete and final.
That is what is normal and common. That is death. So, it is no wonder that
Jesus sees death and weeps. In Hebrews 5, Jesus' loud cries and tears are
about suffering. Life in this fallen world is filled with suffering of
different sorts. Jesus does not respond to that with a calm, rational
comment. The suffering is real. It hurts. We all were created for better,
but this is what we have to face. How else could Jesus respond? Then in the
Luke 19 passage Jesus is weeping because of judgment. God has decided to
send the Roman armies against Jerusalem. And that means its utter and
horrific destruction. The Romans will slaughter the multitudes gathered in
the city. There will be blood everywhere. This is God's just response to the
sin of Israel as they rejected and murdered the Messiah of God sent to them.
Jesus pronounces this judgment and cries at the same time. It is just, but
that doesn't mean that the death of even the wicked is pleasant for God.
Judgment calls for tears.

Jesus walked our world and He saw what was happening. He saw the reality of
our world. He saw the death, the suffering and the judgment. And His
response was tears of great grief.

Our world has not changed since then. There is still death and suffering and
judgment. People respond to this in one of two ways. There are those who try
their best to ignore these things. They do not talk about death, suffering
or judgment. The diligently avoid these topics. There are so many who give
themselves instead to the distraction of various forms of entertainment so
that they might hide from reality. There are sports teams both pro and
amateur, computerized games, huge TVs with hundreds of channels to choose
from, and the internet with its various forums. Entertainment. And this can
be a way of avoiding the reality of our world. There are few who are able to
completely block out real life, but many try hard.

The other option is to succumb to this evil reality. These allow themselves
to be overwhelmed by it all in one way or other. Did you know that the
second leading cause of death among teens is suicide? Depression is a
growing problem for many in our society. There are different psychological
disorders on the rise. And then there are those who simply decide to become
evil. Again, there are few who completely succumb, but this is one tendency,
one way to respond to what is out there.

We cannot respond in either way. We cannot hide from the disturbing reality
of our world. And we cannot give in to its evil. We are Christians. Rather,
we need to recognize the evil for what it is: death, suffering, judgment.
These are all around us. It is so very evil, and so very sad. Recognizing
the evil, we weep for those who are afflicted so. I go to a local nursing
home, Ball Pavilion at Brevillier Village, each week to visit a friend. I
don't like going there. I have to pass or sometimes even go into the
'recreational room'. There is a large-screen TV in one corner turned up very
loud so the people can hear it. But so many of the people sitting there in
their wheelchairs are asleep, regardless of the time of day. Their heads are
slumped over and their bodies are twisted up. What is this but death and
suffering and, yes, for many, judgment. When I was there last week, I could
not communicate with my friend. She can barely see and she can no longer
hear me even with her hearing aids. She is dying. Death is slowly
overwhelming her body and her person. Whenever I see a child with some
physical or mental handicap I do two things. I pray my thanks to God that he
gave me healthy children, and I wonder with sadness what it must be like to
be that person. Death, suffering and judgment are all around us. We cannot
ignore that. We must not. And we certainly cannot give in to it. Jesus saw
these same kinds of things. He didn't ignore it or give in. He was touched
deeply and He wept.

It is absolutely crucial, however, that you see that He did not only weep.
He also acted. He acted to rescue people from this evil. At the heart of His
response was His establishing and proclaiming hope. Now that word 'hope' is
greatly abused by our world. According to them, 'hope' is just wishful
thinking. 'I hope that things get better.' 'Do you think they will?' 'I
don't know, but I've got my fingers crossed!' That kind of 'hope' is empty
wistfulness. The hope of the Gospel is entirely different. This hope of the
Gospel is that God sent His Son to redeem us from death, from suffering and
from judgment. For those who embrace the Savior there is hope. And this hope
is not just some wishful thinking. We know that it is not that because God
has promised. Instead of death, suffering and judgment He has promised
life – real and full and unadulterated by even the least trace of death.
The life of eternity.

Jesus wept and He acted. Both are necessary. Tears alone will do no good.
How helpful is someone who is always and only crying? We call that kind of
person an emotional wreck, someone in need himself. But action without the
emotional response of tears is no good either. That is far too superficial
to be of real help. That action is motivated by something other than loving
empathy and real compassion. Could it be a sense of duty or even a hidden
pride? The people on the receiving end will sense this shallowness. They
will sense that this kind of concern doesn't really understand them. And
worse, sooner or later, this kind of concern will quit. The sense of duty
will be satisfied or the appeal to pride will find something else that will
work better at achieving that goal. That kind of motivation will ultimately
be ineffective. But tears, like those of Jesus, tied to action will produce
something that will make a real difference.

When He was here Jesus wept and He acted. And lives were changed. Now He has
handed over the responsibility for living and proclaiming His Gospel hope to
us. We must weep and proclaim God's promise. We must believe the whole
Gospel with the whole heart. We need to believe the part of the Gospel that
reveals our world as a place of death, suffering and judgment. And we need
to believe the part of the Gospel that says that there is hope. Our God has
acted. He has sent Jesus who has established that hope. We need to believe
all of this. You'll know that you're making progress when you find yourself
weeping like Jesus did when you see the death, the suffering and the
judgment of this world. And you'll know you're making progress when you see
your heart producing the key fruit of hope: joy. When you can rejoice at
what Jesus is doing in you and our world, even as you see the evil, then
you'll know that you're moving in the right direction. You see the evil as
real but you are not overcome by it. Your hope in Jesus shows.

The need of our world is a people who see the evil and neither run from it
nor give in to it, but who weep at it and respond to it. Our world needs a
people who have a real hope in Jesus and live it and proclaim it. The need
of our world is the Church, faithfully following her Lord. By the grace of
God may we be a part of that people, that Church.