"Jesus Wept"
a condensed version of the sermon delivered by Rev. Kirk Moore on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at Union Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in Somonauk, Illinois.

PODCAST of "Jesus Wept"

This morning’s Bible reading is rich – full of human emotion, death, mourning, tears, stench, resurrection and freedom. Any of these would make for a deep and moving discussion. Any of these probably will provide the basis for a sermon in the years to come.

This week, it’s about the tears.

Open with prayer

Tears are part of everyone’s life. As we heard in this morning’s reading from John 11, tears are part of Jesus’ life.

There are many tears in the Bible

• Hagar cried as she thought she and her son, Ishmael, were going to die in the wilderness (Gen 21:16-17)
• God saw King Hezekiah’s tears and healed him (2 Kings 20:5)
• Job, as his friends scorned him, "poured out tears to God." (Job 16:20)
• King David wrote about his tears in the Psalms (6 and 42, at least)
• Jeremiah’s tears were for the Israelites. (Jeremiah 9:1)
• Paul cried for the churches he wrote to. (2 Corinthians 2:4)
• Another Psalmist showed how tears are so common to the human condition – "Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD." (Psalm 130:1)
• There are more sad expressions in Psalm 22, 88, 51 and 143
• Mary and Martha cried over their brother Lazarus (John 11:31).
• And in one of the shortest verses of the Bible – Jesus was overcome with sorrow at the death of his friend, Lazarus. "Jesus began to weep." (John 11:35)

Lazarus was dead. He’d been dead for four days – long enough to be truly considered dead. Did you know that? According to Jewish custom, a burial place was o be checked for three days to make sure that person was really dead. Rabbi Bar Qappara's teachings say that "The whole strength of the mourning is not till the third day; for three days long the soul returns to the grave, thinking that it will return; when however it sees that the color of its face has changed then it goes away and leaves it." Lazarus was really dead – not just ‘mostly dead’ – to borrow a phrase from miracle max from the Princess Bride. Lazarus was ‘all dead.’ Mary and Martha were wailing. They were in the mourning process called, "sitting Shiva," seven days of mourning that comes right after burial. During that time there were many practices Mary and Martha went through to honor Lazarus and to mourn his death:

• No work
• No leather shoes.
• No sex.
• No learning from the Torah, apart from learning mourning rules, reciting psalms or reading the books of Job and Lamentations.
• No greeting anyone with a ‘hello’ or goodbye’ (after three days they could respond, though)
• No clean clothes.
• No hair cuts
• No joyful events for 30 days
• And others . . .

Mary and Martha were following Shiva – and they were wailing. Jesus saw that and was overcome with tears himself. And in the mix of Jesus tears was anger and deep anguish. Maybe he was angry that he saw everyone’s crying as more ritual than real. Maybe he was angry that these people had to go through the pain of losing a loved one. There are many possible explanations to Jesus’ tears. In each case, the explanations try to answer the question: Why, if he knew that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, would Jesus cry?

I think that Jesus saw and felt the pain that Mary and Martha and Lazarus’ friends felt. Verse 33 says that Jesus was greatly disturbed and moved. And the tears weren’t just a short-lived thing. After the rich verse that simply says ‘Jesus wept.’ or ‘Jesus began to weep’ or ‘Jesus cried," Jesus was again moved and disturbed as people asked out loud, ‘Why didn’t he heal him?’ Anger? Deep anguish? An emotional outburst? It wouldn’t stay inside. Jesus tears flowed over the death of his friend.

In the same way we are often overcome with emotion – sometimes for obvious reasons and other times not so obvious reasons, Jesus was overcome in this scene with Mary, Martha and Lazarus’ friends.

Jesus understood weeping. Jesus understands weeping.

We’re not alone in anguish.
God knows our tears.

We can understand that and take comfort in our most painful times. But we can also learn from Jesus’ tears when we are in a position to comfort others who are in pain.

We can be present to cry with those who are crying.

We can be silent and listen to those who are crying

We can be encouraging and remind those who are crying that it is all right to grieve.

We can be encouraging and, over time, live our lives experiencing and sharing Jesus words of hope in the worst of times "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live," (John 11:25)

This morning, some here are in deep anguish. There are tears that might be just below the surface and others that are already welled up and flowing.

• It’s all right to cry.
• It’s all right to lean on a friend for support
• It’s all right to talk about the pain
• It’s all right not to be OK

This morning, some here don’t feel any tears – underneath the surface, welling up or flowing.

• It’s all right not to cry.
• It’s all right to offer a shoulder
• It’s all right to listen
• It’s all right to simply be present

We can hold on to Jesus’ tears. They can transform our understanding of who Jesus is.

We can experience God’s unending mercy and compassion as we remember two simple words.

Jesus wept.

Close with prayer.

© 2008 Union Congregational Church, All Rights Reserved