And Jesus Wept

5^th Sunday of Lent

Cycle A

And Jesus wept.

Why was Jesus crying? Was it because his beloved friend Lazarus was dead? Why would he cry for that? He knew beforehand that Lazarus was dying. He could have prevented it. They asked him to prevent it. You could actually say Jesus was responsible for Lazarus’ death, because he could have prevented it. He was using Lazarus’ death to make a point. Doesn’t seem fair to poor Lazarus, does it? He had to suffer death twice. Jesus used his friend to make a point. All to try to get people to believe in him. Was it fair that an innocent man should suffer for the glory of God?

Was he crying because of the moment? It’s sad when anyone dies. Everyone else around him was crying. The emotion of the moment could have caused him to cry. But he didn’t cry when he raised that little girl back to life. He didn’t cry when he raised the widow’s son back to life. Why did he weep now?

Maybe he was crying because of the way Martha and Mary treated him. Did they greet him warmly when he arrived or did they get on his case? “If you had been here he wouldn’t have died.” In other words, “You didn’t do enough. Why don’t you do for us what you have done for others? How come you could make the blind man see but you weren’t here for us? How could you have abandoned us in our time of need?”

You didn’t do enough, Jesus. It seemed he never did enough. Show us a sign, do for us what we’ve heard you’ve done for others. What have you done for me lately?

Even his own death wouldn’t be enough.

Maybe he was weeping because he saw his own death foreshadowed in Lazarus. At this stage in his ministry, Jesus had tried everything. He had given the Jews a new vision of God, he had taught in their synagogues, healed in their streets. And still they did not believe. So he performed ever greater miracles in the face of their unbelief, in the hope that maybe this would be the sign to convince them. In John Jesus’ miracles start out small - changing water into wine - and gradually become more amazing – restoring sight to the blind and raising someone from the dead – until it becomes clear that even that would not be enough. Drastic measures would have to be taken. Perhaps if he were to die for them…

Was he crying because it might take something as drastic as his dying and rising to have some people begin to believe in him? Was it fair that an innocent man should suffer for the glory of God?

It’s amazing the lengths our God will go to try to convince us.

There’s a powerful scene in the movie, “The Passion of the Christ”. Right after Jesus dies on the cross, the camera moves high above Golgotha for a birds-eye view. A single drop of water forms and falls to earth, symbolizing God weeping over the death of his son. Why was God crying? After all, He allowed Jesus to die on the cross. He could have prevented it. Jesus asked him to and he refused. He knew what was going to happen. He knew how painful Jesus’ passion was going to be. But he allowed it to happen. He allowed sin to win. He allowed Satan to prevail...for a little while.

Maybe God cries because no matter what He does, we just don’t get it. Maybe God cries because it takes such extreme measures for us to even begin to believe in Him.

What is it going to take for us to believe? Why can’t we jettison all the baggage and simply believe? What’s so tough about believing? When we’re children we take things at face value. We believe the great God figures in our lives – our parents – when they tell us things, no matter how small or profound. But as we begin to think for ourselves we start to question things. We question everything until we don’t believe in anything.

What happens to us that we simply can’t accept that God loves us? Why do we force God to constantly prove himself to us? Who do we think we are, testing God? If only God had done…what? Fill in the blank. Then everything would be ok. If only. Then I’d believe.

If I were God I’d cry, too.

We do it all the time. How can God allow bad things to happen in the world? How can God cause earthquakes and floods and hurricanes to occur? How can God allow people to be evil and do evil things? We see natural disasters and blame them on God, but we don’t attribute the good in the world to God, no, that’s our doing. The wonders of science are responsible for the good things in the world that make our lives easier. Look at the progress we’ve made. Heck, we can even create life in a test tube. We no longer need God. So, let’s remove him from our everyday lives. Let’s remove him from the public square. As long as we visit him every Sunday or so at church that’s ok, as long as he stays here and we don’t have to put our faith on the line outside these doors. It’s so easy to compartmentalize, isn’t it?

After 2000 years, it hasn’t gotten much better, has it? We still need proof. Jesus still weeps. He is still hurt by our unbelief.

I think we need a bit of shaking up. I think we need to get down to basics and examine our relationship to God a bit closer. God is creator. We are creature. We don’t have control over our lives. We can’t make a hair on our heads turn color. We can’t control whether we live or die this moment or the next. Why does God have to prove anything to us? Who do we think we are? How dare we make our God weep for us.

As we get closer to the Paschal Mystery – the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – Let’s take some time to really think about what Jesus has done for us. What we have forced him to do for us. We forced him to die by our unbelief. Yes, us, not just those folks 2000 years ago. It still takes his dying to cause us to begin to believe. And we need constant reminding. That’s why we celebrate that mystery each year, each Sunday, each time we gather as a people.

What have you been doing the past thirty days? What has your Lent been about? Where have you been focused in your prayer, fasting, and almsgiving? Who has this Lent been about?

It’s not about us. It’s about Jesus. It’s about what we’ve forced our God to do for us.

It’s enough to make you cry.