Wednesday, January 9, 2019

"Two Words"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…


"Two Words"


     "Jesus wept (John 11:35)."

    Might the shortest verse in Scripture actually tell us the most about the heart of God?  

    "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion" (Psalm 111:4).

    The Apostle John's account of our Lord's tears does not specifically address the reason our Savior wept.  Some say He was grieved by Mary and Martha's lack of trust.  They both uttered the same forlorn "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died" (John 11:21; 32).  Others also wailed, which led to the Lord Jesus groaning and crying.  Was it the lack of faith that so troubled the Lord that He wept?  Consider the text:

   "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto Him, Lord, come and see.  Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how He loved him!" (John 11:33:36).
  The flow of John's account and his mention without criticism or contradiction of witnesses' interpreting the Lord's tears as the expression of sympathetic love does not seem to confirm the notion that unbelief elicited His grief (although certainly God can be grieved when we do not trust Him).  The more likely interpretation is the simple one: the "full of compassion" heart of Christ grieved because Lazarus had died, and because his death broke the hearts of people who loved him.  If this is true, a door opens into the heart of God that beckons us to behold glories of love that "passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).  Our pain is His pain.  Our broken hearts break His heart.  Our hurts rather than His own supply the ink that pens His title, "Man of Sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3).  

    Two words: Jesus wept.  The shortest verse in the Bible.  Nevertheless, the brief expression calls us to embark upon a voyage of discovery in both time and eternity of the shoreless ocean that comprises the character and nature of God.  Who is He?  What does it mean that "God is love?" (I John 4:8).  How can seemingly insignificant beings such as ourselves cause our Lord grief to the extent of tears, and joy that will one day elicit glad song?  "He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17).  We will never fully know.  There is no end to the quest we know.  The ocean is indeed shoreless, the voyage into the love of God eternal.  "Jesus wept."  Two words.  Eternal, infinite meaning and promise of glories unimaginable, as discovered in the heart of God.

"We have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities."
(Hebrews 4:15)


Weekly Memory Verse
   Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen."
(I Timothy 1:17)


  

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