Hello and welcome.
Today I wanted to discuss with you a bible verse that We often rush past it because it's just two simple words.
Jesus wept.
That can be found in John 1135.
I don't want us to skip past this because it's just two words.
Because sometimes the shortest sentences can have the deepest meaning.
I want us to really look at what this means through the story.
I want us to be able to,
In the end,
See what the heart of God was in that moment.
Let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for today.
Thank you for this opportunity to look into your word.
Thank you for this opportunity to.
.
.
See you.
What your heart was.
See ya!
Who your son was.
And to move into greater understanding.
I just pray that He touches us and we learn more about you.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
So that verse is just two words.
Jesus was.
And it's simple enough that a child can memorize it,
But it's deep enough that we can probably study it for a lifetime and not understand the full meaning.
It's probably one of the,
It might have been one of the first verses you memorized because it was so easy.
Also,
You might have heard people in church joke about the fact that it is the easiest verse to memorize.
Sometimes the simplest sentences have the deepest meaning.
And I want us to sit with the words Jesus wept for just a minute.
We're going to pause,
Bow our heads,
And just sit with it.
And we're not going to rush through this.
We're going to slowly move into the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead,
But I don't want to rush there.
Because the part we want to look at is what happened before.
So let's just sit here for a minute.
Okay.
Now that we've set that for a minute.
Um,
Let's start into the story.
We're with Mary and Martha outside the tomb of Lazarus.
Were with those who loved Lazarus.
Next thing that happened is Jesus walks into the scene.
And here's the important part.
He didn't go straight to the tomb to raise Lazarus.
First thing he did.
Was go to those who were weeping.
And sad that.
.
.
He was Gahan.
And grieving.
And he wept with them.
Um the word that was used in greek i can't pronounce so i'm not using it um but it meant righteous indignation so he he was actually sad because he wept but he was also angry at the same time he was angry at death is what um most scholars believe he's angry at death he was angry at satan he was angry at um the fall in eden And so the part that I want us to really get is the fact that he didn't rush to raising Lazarus.
First thing he did was to be with those who were grieving.
And grieve himself.
He didn't look at the situation coldly and clinically.
He didn't give a quick answer.
Jesus wept.
Now,
Think about who this is.
This is the Jesus who is the eternal Son of God.
He is the Word Made Flesh.
He's the one through whom all things were created.
He's the one who spoke to storms and they became still.
He healed the sick.
He opened blind eyes.
And he cast out darkness with a single word.
And in just a few moments,
He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.
That did not stop him from spending time with those who were grieving and to grieve.
He felt emotions.
Jesus wasn't crying because he lacked power.
He wasn't crying because he didn't know what to do.
He wasn't crying because death has the final word.
Jesus knew exactly who he was.
He knew exactly who his father was and he knew exactly what he was about to do.
And before he raises Lazarus,
He weeps.
And that detail matters.
Jesus wasn't surprised.
He wasn't confused.
He wasn't powerless.
He knew exactly what he was about to do.
He knew resurrection was coming.
He knew the tears around him would soon turn into amazement.
And he knew the story didn't end at the tomb.
In other words,
Jesus had perfect confidence in the Father.
Perfect authority over death.
And perfect knowledge of the miracle that was about to happen.
None of them stopped him though.
He stood in grief with those around him.
This should reshape the way we understand faith.
Faith does not mean pretending pain is not painful.
Faith does not mean denying loss.
Faith does not mean standing at a graveside and acting Like it doesn't affect us.
And that death isn't an enemy.
I need to be very clear about something.
These tears weren't a weakness.
They weren't doubt.
That weren't a lack of faith.
They weren't proof.
That Jesus had lost control of the situation.
His tears reveal the depth of his love.
Only someone who loves deeply can grieve that deeply.
Only someone who has allowed himself to be close to others.
Can feel the ache of loss in that way.
These tears were love.
Love isn't always quick answers.
Love sometimes looks like presents.
Love sometimes looks like silence.
Love looks like standing beside someone in pain.
And not trying to fix the situation too quickly.
They were loved.
Fully entering into human grief.
It was compassion taking on flesh.
This was God close enough to human pain.
That his own eyes were filled with tears.
This is part of what the incarnation of Jesus is.
Is so beautiful.
When we say that Jesus became human,
It wasn't just he had a human body.
Wasn't just that he looked like a human.
He actually felt like a human.
He experienced what we experienced.
He knew what it was to be tired.
He knew what it was to be misunderstood.
He knew what it was to be lonely.
He knew what it was to be angry.
But I want to make something clear in all these things.
He didn't sin.
He felt but didn't sin.
He didn't let them control him.
This should let us know that our emotions are important to God.
Our sorrow shouldn't be invisible to him.
Or pain isn't embarrassing to him.
And our grief is not something he just brushes aside with a religious answer.
He doesn't stand far away from our suffering.
And simply say you should be stronger than this.
No.
In Jesus?
God comes near.
Sometimes,
Especially in faith communities,
We We like to say a lot of phrases and we like to try to fix things.
Some of the phrases we use are they're in a better place.
Or everything will work out really good.
And we say these as platitudes,
When sometimes we need to just be silent and be with people who are hurting.
Sometimes we think real faith means we don't feel too deeply.
We think if we cry we're not trusting God.
If we grieve,
We're not believing enough.
And if we're overwhelmed,
Then we must be failing spiritually.
But Jesus shows us something different over his life.
Jesus shows us that faith and tears can exist.
In the same heart.
Trust and grief can be present in the same moment.
You can believe God is good.
And still feel the ache of what is broken.
You can know resurrection is coming.
And still weep at the tomb.
This is why we have to be so careful when we speak to people who are grieving.
We can have good intentions but end up hurting the person.
Making them to believe their faith isn't strong.
Making them believe they shouldn't be feeling what they're feeling.
The truth is,
All these things we can say,
Things we can do,
Timing matters.
And we need to realize that when we're speaking to people.
It doesn't mean the truth isn't important because Jesus is truth.
It just means truth is not cold.
And the truth has a face.
Truth has tears and truth comes near.
So right now,
Especially in this first video,
We're going to look at the humanity of Jesus.
We're gonna talk about that he didn't just come to save us from a distance.
We're going to talk about the fact he didn't come to this earth and be untouched by our reality.
He stepped into it.
He took on flesh.
He felt hunger,
Exhaustion,
Disappointment,
Pressure,
Sorrow,
And grief.
If he only appeared to be human.
Then our comfort is shallow.
But scripture shows us something far better.
The Son of God truly became one of us.
He did not avoid the limitations of human life.
He did not float above pain.
He didn't keep himself untouched by sorrow.
He walked dusty roads.
He sat at tables.
And That's gotta mean something to us.
The fact he experienced loneliness.
He carried burdens,
And yes,
He wept.
So when you bring your pain to Jesus,
You're not bringing it to someone who's unfamiliar with grief.
You're not bringing it to someone who's annoyed by your emotion.
You're not bringing it to someone who says,
I have no idea what this feels like.
You're bringing it to the one who stood at the tomb and cried.
And that changes prayer.
It means prayer does not have to be polished before it's honest.
It means we don't have to clean ourselves up before going to God.
We can be emotional with him,
Truthful and honest.
It means that tears can be prayer.
Silence can be prayer.
A simple whisper of,
Lord,
Help me,
Can be prayer.
And because Jesus entered fully into humanity,
He teaches us how to be human before God.
He shows us that it's okay to feel.
It's okay to grieve.
Toto can't be honest with pain.
And it's okay to bring all of that.
To the Father.
While still trusting him.
This also teaches us something about discipleship.
It doesn't make us less human to follow Jesus.
It makes us more whole.
We're not supposed to deny what we feel.
But we're also not supposed to be controlled by what we feel.
We can name our grief.
Bring it before God.
And allow him to meet us there.
I want you to invite you as this video series progresses.
To not just learn,
But to pay attention to your own heart and what you're feeling.
Are there places where you felt like you need to hide your emotions from God?
How about,
Have you believed that tears were a sign of weakness?
Have you ever thought that being spiritual meant pretending you were fine?
Maybe for you this connects to grief over a loss.
Or connects to a disappointment.
Or loneliness.
Or a situation that didn't turn out the way you wanted it to.
Maybe it connects to something you've carried quietly because you felt like Other people expected you to be fine.
If that's you,
I want you to hear this clearly.
Jesus is not ashamed of your tears,
Not offended by your questions.
And he's not distant from your ape.
He's present.
He's compassionate.
And he's strong enough to hold you.
When you are afraid.
And allow you to say that out loud.
Because if Jesus wept,
The tears aren't the opposite of faith.
Sometimes they are part of faithful love.
Sometimes they're what happens when a heart is tender enough to feel what matters.
And at the same time,
Jesus's tears don't mean the story ends in sorrow.
It doesn't end at the tomb.
It's important to remember.
That it moved toward resurrection.
Compassion and power are not separated in Jesus.
He was tender enough to weep.
And strong enough to raise the dead.
This is the hope we hold on to.
We don't serve a God who is only sympathetic but powerless.
We serve a God who is powerful.
And emotionally close.
In Jesus we see both.
We see the nearness of God and the authority of God.
We see the tears and the resurrection in the same story.
So as we move through.
.
.
I want this to become a foundation.
Of what the other videos will be about.
The humanity of Jesus is not something we need to move past quickly.
It's part of the good news.
Jesus came all the way into our world,
Not like dipping his toe in a stream or in a pond.
He dove right in.
And He came so He could redeem us completely.
Before we pray.
I'm going to give you one simple thought.
To carry with you as we end.
You don't have to hide your tears from him because Jesus entered grief.
You can invite him into yours.
Because Jesus stood at the tomb.
You can trust him in the places that feel hopeless.
Let's take a moment and pray before ending off today.
Father,
Open our hearts today to see Jesus more clearly.
Help us to see.
Who he was.
Help us to see.
The humanity that was in him.
Help us to realize that our emotions aren't weakness.
They're part of the human experience.
I just pray that will take time.
To not only feel,
But not be controlled by what we feel.
That when we're hurting,
We'll take it to God.
And we won't try to do it in our own strength.
Because that's when we are controlled by our emotions.
And I just pray that as we go today.
That we can Live a little more fully.
With this knowledge.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me.
And I hope you'll join me again in the next video here on Insight Timer.
God bless you and I hope you have an amazing day.
