2 Kings 4:18-21, 32-37; Psalm 17:1-8; John 11:1-7, 18-44
Why did Jesus weep? Why did John make a point of his being “greatly disturbed”? When John so often portrays Jesus as knowing everything, it’s not much of a leap to hear him as above such strong emotion. But here, as elsewhere, John tells us again that Jesus can indeed have a troubled heart, even as he’s confident of his part in the dream of God.
Usually, people refer to Jesus' great love for Lazarus as the reason for the tears. The other prominent reason is his feeling for Mary and Martha, for their pain. These are both good reasons to weep. But there might be another.
The raising of Lazarus is the final nail in Jesus’ coffin, so to speak. From here on out, he is too dangerous to the Judean leadership for them to let him live. So even as Jesus brings healing and new life to Lazarus, he knows he will take his place in the tomb.
He doesn’t want to die. He is human as well as divine. His soul is troubled, he is greatly disturbed. But he is clear - he cannot turn from this. He is the resurrection and the life, not merely a healer or a holy man. He can only bring resurrection where death reigns, and so he must become dead, become death, to triumph over death. He’s willing, but he doesn’t want it.
He loves Lazarus. He loves Mary and Martha. He loves his life. But he isn’t raising Lazarus because he loves him, or Mary, or Martha. He’s doing it for the same reason he healed the paralytic by the pool, or the blind man: to glorify God, to show what God is up to through him. He loves God, and God in himself, in a way that can only be called divine.
As he approaches Jerusalem for the last time, this love will sustain him through the passion and through the gates of hell. I can only be awed by this kind of love in a human being.
Have you ever known a love so strong that it could revive something that seemed dead? Have you ever been revived by that kind of love? When have you breathed life into another’s heart?
No comments:
Post a Comment