Jesus grieved.

This Sunday's worship service will include the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead as recorded in John 11. In the midst of that account is a simple two-word verse that many students often request for a memory verse: "Jesus wept." (John 11:35)

What may seem so simple is remarkably profound. As true man, we see Jesus grieving over death along with Martha, Mary, and the others who were there to comfort them. That is great comfort for us as we grieve, for we have a Savior who totally understands the sorrow associated with that. But Jesus is also true God. Does God cry and grieve? Indeed He does over what sin has done to the creatures the Creator dearly loves.

When we grieve, we often feel helpless because we have no power to reverse the situation. But not Jesus. He came to do what only God can do and so not only raised Lazarus from the dead, but promises to do the same for all who die believing in Him.

But the wonder of it is that He Himself would go through death at the hands of those who rejected Him before He would rise from the dead. He goes the way we all must go. And He knows the way out.

There is an unfortunate translation of John 11:19 in the New International Version which reads: "Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother." The word "loss" is not there in the original Greek. But that's how we usually talk when comforting people isn't it? Yet when we lose something we have no idea where it is. In Christ we can know exactly where we are: with Him even when we go through the valley of the shadow of death.

And what a marvelous day when our tears will be wiped away as we behold the One who shed tears for us that we might have the joy of life with Him now and for eternity.