Weeping

Weeping

In the story of Lazarus, we see how Jesus wept over His lost friend. John 11:34-36 “And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” Jesus loved his friend so much that He wept for his loss. In this short story we see that where Jesus’ passion lay, so His heart lay there also, and where His heart lay we saw the outpouring of His mouth in His tears.

Now I don’t know if Lazarus was lost or saved but my guess is that the Lord had more work for him to do in his testimony. Lazarus testimony – “I was dead but now God has brought me back to life for His glory” (or something similar) – would have been powerful. I don’t know if he spoke it with a call to repentance or not, but it would have caused many to realise their own lost-ness and in turn this would have led them to repentance.

I often asked - Why would God cause Lazarus to be raised from the dead? The obvious answer is – for His own glory. Yet I think there was more to it than that. I think that God the Father already knew that Jesus would weep over the loss of His friend and I would like to think that is was Jesus’ tears that tipped the balance so that God the Father then told Jesus to ‘call him forth’ from the tomb.

God knows of every tear we shed too. Those we shed in anger or in anguish. Psalm 56:8 (MSG) “You've kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.” God registers our tears – I think He collects them as an offering. I like to think He keeps them in two bowls – one for tears shed for His Kingdom, and one for those shed for ourselves. So, when we weep for those around us who are lost, He counts them to our credit. On the great day of reckoning, those tears will be balanced with the other seeds we have sown and the harvest that was reaped because of us.

I wonder how many tears you have shed for the lost around you – for your family, your friends, your neighbours, even for your enemies. I would like to think that any tears I have shed with my prayers will reap at least a small harvest – something, however small, would be good. It always strikes me as odd that we don’t cry half enough for others for their salvation, for justice, for health. When was the last time you cried for anyone bar yourself? When did you weep for a salvation? Or justice? Or against wickedness? When revival comes, will we say with Churchill, “Never has so much been owed by so many to so few.”

Revival is born in the weeping of the righteous for the unrighteous. Repentance is born in the weeping for the lost. Salvation is born in the weeping of repentance. Healing is born in the weeping of the desperate.

When were you desperate enough to weep for anything or anyone?