I have been reading a lot about Mary, Martha, Jesus, and the death of Lazarus in John 11. If you don’t know the story let me explain. Lazarus’s sisters (Mary and Martha), sent a message to Jesus of their brother (Lazarus) illness which could possibly lead to death. Jesus decided to come after four days, by then Lazarus was dead. He proceeded to talk to Lazarus’s grieving sisters, after seeing Lazarus’ burial spot, Jesus wept.
To read the story, click the link below:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+11%3A1-35&version=NIV
I believe this verse (which also happens to be the shortest part of the bible) has two very important lessons to teach us.
We have a saviour that deeply cares about us
There is something very comforting about knowing, that your saviour cares enough to cry when you cry. It makes the verse “the thoughts I have towards you are that of good and evil” in Jeremiah 29:11 more “realistic”. You do not have a distant saviour just ruling from heaven. You have a God who is fully engaged in your life. He celebrates when you celebrate. He weeps when you weep.
This is how we mourn
I believe the verse “Jesus wept” gave a form of template for handling grief and mourning. When Jesus saw Mary crying about her brother’s death, he didn’t go into a theological debate about how suffering is God’s plan. He didn’t go ahead to say how Lazarus’ sin led to his death. Instead, Jesus wept with her.
I think this should be a template Christians should follow when it comes to grief. Let us mourn with those who mourn. Weep with those who weep because sometimes pain is supposed to be just felt. Not to be reasoned with, not to link it to a greater plan, just felt. Sometimes we don’t need to rush to solutions, we just need to seat with the silence of grief. Let us be like our saviour and meet people dining with grief with care and gentleness.
