During this terrible pandemic, many are weeping in lament for the loss of friends, family, neighbors, fellow Christians or folks we don’t even know. I know it is a heart-wrenching situation, but we do not weep alone in our sorrow. Jesus hears every sigh and every moan of sorrow, and He sees every tear we shed for ourselves or for others.
John 11:35 records, “Jesus wept” (NKJV). If we read the entire account of Jesus about to restore Lazarus to life, we will notice the following. Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha were friends and followers of Christ. They sent for their friend Jesus to come to their brother in his hour of death. They believed that Jesus could have saved their brother from death.
Jesus, knowing that a mighty work was to be done in order that men could see the power of God, delayed His coming until Lazarus was certainly dead. On arrival, and learning that Lazarus was already entombed, He wept and commanded the tomb be opened. The rest is history.
On another occasion, recorded in Luke 19:41-44, we read:
Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Not only was He weeping for the anguish of His sorrow in heart that the house of the Lord would be destroyed but that the city of David would be destroyed, too. He wept also for the loss of the souls who did not even realize what a catastrophe would befall them. They, even they, had lost their focus on being what God had intended them to be.
Matthew 23:37-39 also records the tears of Jesus. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Once again, our Lord wept over the city of David where the House of the Lord God resides. Yet, He wept for much more. He wept for the souls that already believed and for all who will hear, receive and believe when the Word of the Lord would go forth from Jerusalem. Moreover, He wept in prayer for those within the city who were planning the horrible murder of the Son of God.
Yes, if He wept for and prayed even for them, then you can be sure that Jesus has wept and prayed for you. What greater blessing could come on any living soul past, present and future!
