JUST TWO WORDS!

Friday, February 8, 2019

JUST TWO WORDS!

John 11:33-36

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!

           Jesus wept for his friend Lazarus. He had spent many nights with him and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. The Greek word is dakruo which simply means to shed tears. This is the quiet and personal grief that overcomes us when a friend is taken from us. We have all felt this at one time or another.

           Today I am burying a dear friend. A giant of a man in many ways that sickness has reduced in size. He claimed only to be a sinner saved by extreme grace and wanted only to be remembered as a man of God. I remember this and much more. I am a minister, a professional, so I will try not to cry. It is my task to comfort others but at some point I will steal away and dakruo.

           Jesus wept over Jerusalem in Luke 19:41 but here the word is klaio and means “to wail aloud.” At the tomb of Lazarus the grief was PERSONAL but at the hilltop overlooking Jerusalem it was PRIESTLY. He wailed not for His loss but for their ignorance and the consequences of it. It was deep and agonizing.

Ezek 33:11

11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Dear Jesus, Our sins have caused thee grief and tears. Forgive us and restore us that we may rejoice together. AMEN