We have now passed the halfway point of Lent, and having refreshed following the pause in our Lenten observances in order to celebrate Mothering Sunday, we now find ourselves in Passiontide. Jesus is on his way to the cross with no turning back. This Sunday I am worshipping at St Mary’s Church, Hemyock. You are welcome to join me at 11am.

‘Jesus wept’ is the shortest verse in the Bible, and possibly most overused and undervalued, and it appears in today’s gospel reading. Death appears throughout this passage, sometimes overtly, as in Lazarus’ literal death, and other times with hints and indications. We are introduced to Mary as

the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair.

John 11:2

There are many ways in which we can interpret the act of Mary anointing Jesus, one of which is that she was preparing him for death; the anointing being a prophetic action anointing the body that will later be buried in haste without the time to honour him properly.

Next we recall the disciples’ response to Jesus’ plan to return to Judea, a place where ‘just now the Jews were trying to stone’ him, a death sentence for blasphemy. Then when Jesus tells his disciples they are to go to Lazarus, Thomas responds in what may not be the most encouraging of tones,

Let us also go, that we may die with him.

John 11: 16

Death abounds. Jesus pauses to bring life.

Ahead of this passage Jesus and his disciples had been ‘across the Jordan’, at the place where he had been baptised by John at the beginning of his ministry. Lazarus lay in his sickbed in Bethany, and Jesus was headed to Judea, and ultimately Jerusalem. He is currently on the ‘safe’ side of the river. When Jesus tells the disciples that their friend is gravely ill, he uses the euphemism, ‘fallen asleep’, and the disciples seek to keep him (and themselves) away from danger. Lazarus will be fine if he’s only sleeping, let us stay here away from those who want to stone you, and us by association.

Jesus doesn’t heed their warnings, he goes. He inexplicably waits a while before doing so, long enough for Lazarus to die, be buried, begin to decompose and begin to stink. It feels as if Jesus is playing with his friends. He could have protected them from grief and sorrow, from the anguish of pain and death, and the fear of being helpless women without a man to protect them in a patriarchal society. Jesus could have become ‘their’ man.

Jesus though, knows that grief cannot be avoided. Lazarus is ill, but death will heal him. It is how we try to understand suffering when neither medicine or miracles work. Healing will come in eternity. Jesus allows Lazarus to die, even though he knows it will break his friends’ hearts, even though it breaks his own.

When Jesus saw Mary weeping he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved…Jesus began to weep.

John 11: 33-35

So much is taking place in this passage and it brings with it so many questions. Why didn’t Jesus save Lazarus from dying in the first place? Why did Jesus wait? How could he use his friends in order to prophesy his own death and resurrection? What did Lazarus experience in the tomb? Did Lazarus die again? Why did Jesus put himself through grief? Jesus wept.

Although Jesus was in control and knew how the plot twist for Lazarus would spin out, he was still emotionally engaged. He hadn’t become hardened, he didn’t remove himself emotionally. Jesus wept alongside his friends Martha and Mary, sharing their anguish. Jesus weeps for Lazarus who has died with all that means, for all that he has experienced. Perhaps he even weeps a little for himself, knowing that he too will shortly share Lazarus’ experience.

Jesus weeps.

We seek the ‘happy ending’, we skip to the resurrection of Lazarus, just as we avoid Good Friday and head straight for the Easter Lilies and chocolate eggs. We seek the consolation without the desolation, but where is the truth in that? There is no resurrection without death.

As we travel with Jesus towards Holy Week, we think of everything else that is taking place in the world right now. The grief and loss and helplessness, the rise in patriarchy and the ‘manosphere’ denigrating the freedoms and rights of women. When we become hardened to the news, Jesus weeps. When we don’t know where to turn, what to do, how even to pray, Jesus weeps. We know that Jesus will return, following death and despair comes life and hope, but not yet. As we travel through Passiontide, let us not withdraw from sharing the grief which Jesus feels. Let us lament, for there is much that is lamentable. Yes we hold the hope of the resurrection, just as Jesus knew that he would restore Lazarus to life, but for now, we lament.

Jesus weeps.

Read the full gospel passage here