Word came his good friend was sick, but he was too busy teaching and defending his cause to break away. After all, the sickness was probably minor. Two days later and feeling guilty about neglecting his friend, he decides to go see him. But it’s too late. He’s dead. By the time he travels to his friend’s hometown, he’s been dead four days. One of his friend’s sisters meets him at the town entrance and scolds him for not coming earlier. The other encounters him near the grave site and does the same. They can’t understand how one friend could treat another so flippantly.
He wants to see his friend’s grave to pay his last respects, so he asks the sisters to take him there and they oblige. Overcome by the crowd’s grief and touched by the mourning of the dead man’s sisters, Jesus wept (John 11:35).
God the Son cried because his good friend was dead, because he sympathized with those who grieved and because death was first hand evidence of sin’s power. But his weeping led to action with results that infected everyone in the crowd. Jesus called for the stone to be removed from the grave’s entrance and then called his dead friend’s name. Everyone was shocked when he actually walked out.
God is touched by our sicknesses and heartaches. Jesus’ crying while in human form is proof. And though God is powerful enough to take them all away, he lets us experience and endure them for reasons often known only to him. But crying to him for help unleashes power strong enough to raise the dead and will comfort us no matter how difficult the trial.
Prayer: Merciful Lord, remind us You’re in control of our difficulties and walk with us through every one.
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