Friday, March 31, 2017

5th Sunday of Lent: And Jesus Wept



In today’s Gospel reading from John we have heard an incredible story, that of the raising of Lazarus from the dead.  I cannot even begin to imagine what the people felt when they saw a man who had been dead for four days rise from his tomb.  People must have been in incredible awe, fear, astonishment and every other adjective you can use to describe it.  There are many points of reflection we can take from the story, I wish to focus only on one short verse, “And Jesus wept.”

I have had the privilege for the second time to teach the men who are in formation for the diaconate on the theological subject of Christology.  Christology is simply, the study of the person of Jesus Christ.  The class examines Jesus’ Divine and human nature and how that mystery is presented to us in the Incarnation, the Word of God taking on human flesh.  You can probably imagine the questions that are brought up, some of which are, “when did Jesus know He was Divine?”  “Were His two natures ever at odds with one another, i.e. did he have to suppress his Divine nature to be fully human?”  Some of the mystery rests in the fact that Jesus had to learn how to talk and walk, yet at the same time was holding the entire universe in existence.  Wow, that’s a lot to try and figure out.  Nevertheless, we have made our feeble attempts.  More importantly here, however, for our purposes, I would like to focus on Jesus as human.  Often, we just assume or even take the human nature of Jesus for granted.  When we usually think of Jesus we automatically think of his Divine nature.

Today we see that human nature really come to the fore as Scripture tells us, “Jesus wept.”  Why did he weep?  Some say he simply wept because his friend Lazarus had died.  Some say he wept for the crowds as he could still see that their faith was not fully there yet, they were still clinging to the earthly, only the here and now.  How true is that of all of us.  When a family member passes, we are devastated and rightly so, it hurts deeply when we experience death of the ones we love.  Eventually, however we must come to realize that Jesus takes care of His own!  That our loved one is happy and in the Lord’s presence.  How much do we cling to the here and now, not only for our loved ones but even for ourselves?  Do we long for heaven?  Another way to understand it would be that the crowds were doubting whether Jesus could do anything now and if He had been here earlier He would or could have saved Lazarus.

Jesus shows His human nature by His tears, no matter for what reason He shed them, it could have been for all the reasons I mentioned.  He shows His humanity by crying.  He is truly one of us as St. Paul said, but without sin.  Like you and me, Jesus had to be nursed by his mother, learn carpentry from his father, he shed tears and blood like all of us, he smiled, laughed and cried, He felt pain, He grew tired, He grew physically weak, He grew in wisdom, and He died just like we all do.

In the movie, “The Shack,” the character Mac, who met the Trinity says to Jesus, I find it easiest to talk with you.  Jesus replied, “because I am like you.”  Jesus truly meant that, the only difference is that He never sinned and that He also has a Divine nature, which also reveals itself when He commands Lazarus to rise!


It is good to know that Jesus shared everything we experience.  Knowing that God would become one of us and dwell with us gives us comfort.  Yes, He is our Lord, yes, we pay Him great reverence as the King of Kings, yes, we approach Him humbly, but we can also approach Him as friend, one who weeps right along with us, one who laughs right along with us, one who does everything right along with us.  It is a gift beyond comprehension that God would weep not just for Lazarus, but also for us!

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