The Day Jesus Wept

Mary and Martha say to Jesus when He arrives.
They both tell Him the same thing:
"Lord… if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:21

And they were right!
They knew that Jesus had already healed dozens (perhaps 100s) of people up this point in His ministry. They also knew that Jesus had raised at least two people from the dead.
And so, the moment they realized Lazarus was deathly sick they IMMEDIATELY sent for Him, because they KNEW that if Jesus came… Lazarus wouldn’t die.

But Jesus didn’t come.
And Lazarus (pause) died.

The other oddity about this story is how Jesus responds to the funeral.
He weeps!
“When Jesus saw (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled… Jesus wept.” John 11:33,35

Now, if Jesus knew Lazarus was going to die (it was all pre-arranged), why weep? And if He knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, even before he arrives at the grave, why shed tears?

Why would He weep?
Well, He wept because He SAW Mary and the others weeping.
Their grief tore at His heart.
And He shed tears for their sorrow.

So, what does all this teach us?
Well, first – it teaches us there will be times when Jesus won’t show up when I want Him to. There will be times I’ll pray, and pray, and pray, and it will feel like Jesus just isn’t there.
Like Jesus … just didn’t show up.

(PAUSE)
Kind of like when He didn’t show up at Lazarus’ sick bed.
And allowed Lazarus to die.
And allowed his family and friends to mourn.

(PAUSE)
I don’t like that.
I’m not comfortable with that.

In fact as I was writing my sermon and I got to this point in my meditations… that’s EXACTLY what I said to myself.
I Don’t Like That!!!
It does not make me comfortable.

Truth be told: I want A GOD that will do what I want done, when I want it done and how I think it should be done. And if God doesn’t do it the way I think it ought to be done then something’s wrong…. God’s not showing up.

I’m hurting.
I’m suffering.
I’m losing.
And when that happens there’s a part of me that wants to say: “Jesus… if you’d only been here this wouldn’t have happened!”

It hurts.
It’s uncomfortable
I don’t like it.

ILLUS: It’s kind of like having a fever.
You ever had a fever?
Do you remember how it felt?

Ø Your forehead is hot.
Ø In fact your whole body can be hot
Ø Your muscles ache
Ø Your head aches
Ø You shiver,
Ø You sweat
Ø Your entire body feels weak
Ø And all you want to do is lay around the house and do nothing.

And, if you’re anything like me - you get irritable.
You don’t want to be around me when I’m sick like that.
I just want to be left alone.

How many of you like having a fever?
Of course you don’t
It hurts, it’s uncomfortable… we do NOT like it.

Now, it used to be that doctors did everything they could to bring fevers down.
In fact, many over the counter medicines are designed to do just that. If you go to your local pharmacy, you’ll find several products with the phrase “FEVER REDUCER”, or “REDUCES FEVER” on the label.

But about 30 years ago researchers began to discover that moderate fevers were a necessary part of the body’s arsenal for fighting infections. Now these physicians were NOT talking about the really high fevers (which can be very dangerous, and which indicate you need to see