Gospeling Your Life ~ Weeping

 

Read John 11-12 – Chapter 11 is a profound and powerful story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  I invite you today to enter this story.  Imagine being Mary and Martha, what would you say if Jesus didn’t show up?  Wait.  What do you say to Jesus when he doesn’t show up on your time schedule like a genie to grant you your wish?  Imagine being the disciples, wondering why Jesus don’t just “say it plain”?  Why did Jesus wait?  Why does Jesus say it won’t lead to death?

And why, given what Jesus said, does he weep in verse 33?  Especially, given how confident and certain Jesus seemed up to that point.  Jesus was clear that Lazarus was sleeping and that this wasn’t really, truly death, just looked like.  So, why weep?

 

I have a lot of questions about this passage.

 

I love the truth that Jesus wept.  We are not meant to be somber stoics unaffected by the world.  We are not made of Teflon but flesh (earth/dirt).  I weep.  I weep for the devastation caused by recent hurricanes.  I weep for women and children killed in wars by weapons produced in the United States and paid for by our tax dollars.  I weep for leaders who would rather show might rather than humility.  I weep for young people who are numb to violence and have grown up thinking school shootings are normal.  I weep for a country that may have “United” in our name but seems to have no desire or appetite to live that.  I weep for older generations who only criticize younger generations.  I weep for younger generations who struggle in so many ways.  I weep for the church trying to reclaim glory days that have passed us by and the energy we expend trying to recapture what was ~ rather than sink into what is.

 

I need to be unbound (like Lazarus) from the wounds of the past.  I need to be unbound (like Lazarus) from expectations of success that are only measured by numbers and noses in the pews.  I need to be unbound (like Lazarus) from feeling like it is all on my shoulders.  I need to be unbound from anger at family members who no longer talk to me.  I need to be unbound by hurts I keep lugging in the luggage of life.

 

Now is your turn.  Where do you weep today?  Name what is in your heart.   Where do you need to be unbound?  Pray this.  May the One who calls us out of tombs death that might become wombs of new life.   Amen.