JESUS WEPT

It was customary in ancient Israel to bury someone on the day of death. After death, the Talmud prescribed seven days of deep mourning and thirty days of light mourning. So [after Lazarus died] Jesus shows up right in the middle of their deepest sorrow and grieves with them. John 11:35 simply says, “Jesus wept.”

It’s one of the shortest verses in the Bible, but it speaks volumes. And I’m not sure the English translation does it justice. The force of the Greek verb tense suggests that Jesus bursts into tears. This was not a measured response. Jesus literally lost it. It reveals how much Jesus loved Lazarus. It also reveals a God who sheds tears! And He doesn’t just cry over us, He collects our tears in a bottle (see Psalm 56:8).

Your tears are precious to God. Whether they are tears of joy, tears of sorrow, or tears of pain -- not one teardrop is lost on God.

If you’ve endured the type of loss Mary and Martha experienced [in losing their brother], you know that sometimes you need a shoulder to cry on. I’m grateful for those friends who seem to show up when everybody else disappears. Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (see Proverbs 18:24), and His broad shoulders can bear any burden. 

-- Mark Batterson in “The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible”

#6329

TRANSFORMED BY THE SPIRIT

“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.”  (1 Corinthians 2:13 NIV)

Presbyterian minister Fred Rogers, creator and host of television's "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," once gave an address describing the time he was a student at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and attended a different church each Sunday in order to hear a variety of preachers.

One Sunday he was treated to "the most poorly crafted sermon I had ever heard." But when he turned to the friend who had accompanied him, he found her in tears.

"It was exactly what I needed to hear," she told Rogers.

"That's when I realized," he told the audience, "that the space between someone doing the best he or she can and someone in need is holy ground. The Holy Spirit had transformed that feeble sermon for her -- and as it turned out, for me too."

-- Victor Parachin in “Christian Reader”, Sept/Oct 1999


#4722

ACCEPTING A HELPING HAND

“You guide me with Your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.” (Psalm 73:24 NLT)

When a steamship enters the harbor and seeks to dock, they call for a "pilot" to come aboard and steer the vessel to port...

We have all seen pictures of beautiful luxury liners steaming into New York harbor. They are splendid, gleaming, smooth, and self-sufficient -- until they get close to land. Then tiny little tugboats come alongside and gently nudge them toward the dock. These tiny boats ease them in the right direction so that their docking is safe and secure.

These ships are no less magnificent because they accepted help from a friendly little tugboat. We are no less magnificent if we, too, accept a helping hand [when we are in physical, emotional or spiritual need.]

-- Ted Menten in “After Goodbye”


#4246