Through His grace, God has provided me with many opportunities through Journey in Christ to minister alongside men and women of all ages and with a wide range of trials and tribulations in this fallen world. It is the joy of my life to do so. And it is through God's grace that sustains me through empathetically feeling the pain of others in addition to my own pains.
The word compassion comes from two words that mean with pain. I know that I cannot imitate the compassion of Christ in ministering to others. Through His grace, God is growing me to experience the compassion of Christ Himself through the indwelling Holy Spirit.
In this Rest Stop, be encouraged by the compassionate tears of Jesus for you. May we all be led to minister these tears to others by "rejoicing with those who rejoice, an weeping with those who weep" (Romans 12:15).
JESUS WEPT OVER LAZARUS
In John 11, we learn that sisters Mary and Martha called for Jesus' help when their brother Lazarus was very sick. Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus.
When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had already died and Mary was weeping. John 11:33 says that "Jesus groaned in the spirit and was troubled." And John 11:35 simply says, "Jesus wept."
A common interpretation is that Jesus wept out of sympathy for Mary and Martha and out of grief for the death of his friend Lazarus.
Certainly, Jesus was sympathetic. However, His compassion was so much more profound. He knew He was going to raise Lazarus in just a few moments.
The phrase "groaned in the spirit and was troubled" means to "have a sense of sharp anger." I cannot see that Jesus was angry at any person. I believe Jesus was angry with evil as he was confronted with the horrible result of sin in the world -- death.
The words of Charles Spurgeon in the PS section below articulates so beautifully the anger and the tears of Jesus regarding Lazarus and his sisters.
JESUS WEPT IN THE GARDEN
Although Jesus was fully God and fully man, He surrendered His rights as God so that He could live as a man on a journey to a cross for you and me. He depended solely on the Holy Spirit in Him just as God has re-birthed us to do.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus wept so intently that he shed drops of blood through His pores. His closest friends had abandoned Him. The religious leaders spit on Him and tortured Him. And He was on the verge of death on a cruel cross.
He wept emotionally as a man. Not for a second did He seek to avoid that cruel cross for it had been on His heart for you and me since eternity past. But He still struggled as a man because He chose to be tempted in every way we are. Jesus was free to express His emotions to His Father without sinning. And so must we.
Someone may think that Jesus in the Garden had lost His peace. But this is not at all true. Jesus always had perfect peace. He was, and always has been, the Prince of Peace.
For you see, peace is not a feeling, but a knowing -- knowing your Father has everything under control and is looking after your best interests for His glory -- and who is working out a resurrection of life through any trial or tribulation you may be going through.
[Thank you to my brother Bill Gillham now in heaven for teaching me the blessed truth of this last paragraph.]
CLOSING
One week each year between 1989 and 1996, I had the privilege to sit under the teaching and preaching of Dr. Stephen Olford at Luther Rice Seminary in Atlanta. Dr. Olford taught me the supreme importance of teaching and preaching God's Word expositionally (word for word, precept upon precept). Billy Graham called Dr. Olford "the man who most influenced my ministry."
Dr. Olford was once asked what was the secret of Christian leadership, to which he responded, "Bent knees, wet eyes, and a broken heart."
This is the cry of my heart, too. I pray the Lord leads me to be moved to shed more tears for others.
Why Jesus Wept 
