Feel The Love

John 11: 1-44

When last have you been asked to recite a verse of Scripture from memory? Or maybe the question should be: “Have you ever been asked to recite a verse of scripture from memory?”

In the Youth Fellowship of the congregation in which I grew up, it was the practice to take the roll call at the start of every meeting. As your name was called, you were expected to respond with a verse of Scripture that you would have memorized. Two verses were the favourites and were sure to be recited at every meeting, they were: John 3:16, and John 11:35.

John 3:16 was a favourite because of its message: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.” That was always a popular choice.

And John 11:35 was just as popular, maybe even more popular, but for an entirely different reason; it had nothing to do with its message, it was a favourite because of its brevity – it holds the distinction of being the shortest verse in the entire Bible. John 11:35 simply says: “Jesus began to weep.”, and if you used the King James Version of the Bible, which was the version that we used at the time, it was just two words: “Jesus wept”. You can understand why it was a favourite with us, for who cannot memorize two words – “Jesus wept”? So, every week in our Youth Fellowship, Jesus was weeping.

Looking back, I acknowledge that we trivialized that verse of scripture; it had become for us nothing more than a convenient escape. In our defence, I would say that our trivializing of that verse was understandable and excusable, we did not know any better. But in our youthful ignorance, and some may justifiably say laziness, we were, without intending to, giving prominence to a verse that truly deserves greater attention. A verse that has largely been passed over and brushed aside, but a verse that has a message and meaning that speaks directly and powerfully to us in our times of loss, grief, and pain. A verse that brings God in Christ, close to us in a very real and intimate, and powerful way.

“Jesus wept”.

John writes: “When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ 35Jesus began to weep.”

When Jesus wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus, he was not weeping for Lazarus – he knew that his state would soon change; he was weeping with Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha, and those who were grieving with them. In his weeping, he showed how much he felt their pain. In his weeping, he identified with them in their grief and revealed how deeply he cared.

Nothing expresses love more deeply than tears. To be moved to tears conveys the depth of one’s feeling in a way that nothing else can. When one’s life is deeply touched, either by joy or by sadness, it often results in tears. In the words of American author Washington Irving– “There is a sacredness in tears... They speak more eloquently that ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.”

When Jesus wept with Mary and Martha, his tears were an expression of unspeakable love, they expressed the deep compassion he felt for them and what they were going thought at the loss of their brother. Jesus’ tears expressed his love more eloquently than ten thousand tongues.

I remember when my brother died, there was something that was deeply moving and comforting about the tears in the eyes of many who came to say goodbye: family, friends and people that I did not know. I knew that I was not alone in my grief, but the tears of others confirmed it in a way that words would have been inadequate to express.

Jesus wept with Mary and Martha then, and he weeps with us now. When grief overwhelms, when the pain of our loss surfaces, when tears flow; Jesus weeps with us.

All our life, and particularly those times, seasons, and events that we especially celebrate, hold special meaning and significance for us, not only for what they represent, but because of the special people with whom we are blessed to share our life and those moments.

Joy is a gift that is best experienced when shared, so when we lose the people with whom we shared life; we lose much of our joy. It is particularly so when it comes to those special and significant moments and events in our lives; when we lose those with whom we would share those moments and events, they are not the same - it can be difficult.

In those and all our moments of grief and pain, Jesus weeps with us as he did with Mary and Martha. He weeps not out of pity, not in frustration or helplessness, or fear; but out of love – a love that will not let go. A love from which nothing, not even death, can separate us. A love that offers us and our departed, the promise of resurrection.

Jesus’ tears tell us that in our grief now, and in the future, we are not alone.

In your remembering, whether filled with joy and thankfulness, or sadness and grief, you can be assured that you are held in the love of God.

I pray that you feel that love.