Little Verse, Big Meaning

Little Verse, Big Meaning

Bible Blast: Read John 11:28-44

Jesus wept. John 11:35 (NIV)

Saint Francis of Assisi, a Christian man who lived long ago and devoted much of his life to prayer for others, is said to have gone blind from crying too much over the needs of others. I don’t know if that’s true, but I know crying is a strange phenomenon. It is one of the most complicated functions of the brain and body, and while animals have tears that cleanse their eyes, they don’t cry emotional tears the way humans do. We’re unique.

People do have tears that are for cleansing our eyes. If you ever get dust in your eyes or cut up an onion, you’ll experience that kind of crying. Did you know that those kinds of tears and the tears we cry when we are sad are made up of completely different kinds of chemicals? Sad tears have hormones and even a painkilling chemical in them.

What scientists do know is that we seem to cry to release stress. We cry because our bodies cannot possibly physically contain the emotion that’s inside of us. It’s healthier for those feelings to come out.

So why did Jesus weep when his dear friend Lazarus was dead? What emotion was in him that had to come out? Some of it was sadness, even though he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Perhaps there was another emotion inside of him too. Could it have been anger?

When the people didn’t believe in God’s power to raise Lazarus, Jesus could have been angry over the people’s unbelief. Maybe it was this holy anger that caused Jesus to shout with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” What happened then was truly a miracle: A man who had been dead for four days came walking out of the tomb.

I bet Mary’s and Martha’s weeping eyes popped right out of their heads! Within minutes, they went from deep mourning and wailing over the loss of their brother to extreme rejoicing because he was alive again!

We don’t ever have to doubt God’s power and love. Anything is possible with him (see Matthew 19:26).

Girl Gab: Talk about a time when you cried really hard. Were you angry, sad, confused, happy, or scared? Ask God to increase your faith to believe he can do anything.