Often I find myself contemplating death and eternal live in Heaven and the New Universe. I am actually writing an essay entitled A Treatise on Death (yes, I am that obsessed). I think we need to spend a lot of time dwelling death and our fates - certainly the Early Church and Christ did. In John 11, we see the infamous "Jesus raises Lazarus" story. It's nothing new to us - Jesus' friend dies, and He weeps for Him, and is so hurt by his death that He brings him back. But as I read the story through, several things stood out to me more vibrantly than ever before.
Jesus was warned that Lazarus was sick and about to die, but He firmly decided not to go help His friend. In verse 14, Jesus says something surprising: "I'm glad Lazarus died!" I don't know if I'd be glad if my close friends hit the rocks, but Jesus understands something they do not. Jesus is cool and collected in His talks about Lazarus, and even when He meets Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha, He is not displaying any sorrow. The all-knowing God-Messiah seems to have forgotten that His friend just died. Only when Jesus sees Mary and the other Jews weeping, only then did He have some disturbing feelings swirling around in His gut. And then Jesus begins to weep.
Why is He weeping? We say it's because He misses His friend. Then how come the all-powerful Christ didn't rescue Him? How come Jesus seemed so detached from reality if He is all-knowing? I don't think He is crying because He misses His friend. He starts crying when He sees the others crying and just when He is about to go and raise Lazarus from the dead. Listen: Jesus starts crying right before He brings His good friend to life! What's wrong with the Messiah?
The question is, "What's wrong with us?" I believe Jesus is weeping because the people do not understand the reality of eternal life. He is weeping because they do not understand that Lazarus is not dead, but walking around in Paradise, a world far better than ours, a world that, were we allowed a brief glimpse, we would easily accept all of the sorrows of this earth to acquire. Think of Maui and Cancuun and the Caribbean all rolled into one and multiplied by a billion, and you haven't grasped the beauty and wonder and pleasures of the Intermediate Heaven. Christ is weeping because the people haven't really wrapped their minds and hearts around the truth that "this side" is but an echo, murmur, and shadow of the beautiful world "on the other side". And as He weeps before He commands Lazarus to come out, I believe He is weeping because He is about to bring a close and intimate friend out of Paradise and back into the sin-contaminated Earth. Christ has seen the splendors of Heaven and He is sorry that Lazarus will have to return, where no doubt he will deal with depression, anxiety and sorrow because he was taken from the land that made him whole.
Jesus was warned that Lazarus was sick and about to die, but He firmly decided not to go help His friend. In verse 14, Jesus says something surprising: "I'm glad Lazarus died!" I don't know if I'd be glad if my close friends hit the rocks, but Jesus understands something they do not. Jesus is cool and collected in His talks about Lazarus, and even when He meets Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha, He is not displaying any sorrow. The all-knowing God-Messiah seems to have forgotten that His friend just died. Only when Jesus sees Mary and the other Jews weeping, only then did He have some disturbing feelings swirling around in His gut. And then Jesus begins to weep.
Why is He weeping? We say it's because He misses His friend. Then how come the all-powerful Christ didn't rescue Him? How come Jesus seemed so detached from reality if He is all-knowing? I don't think He is crying because He misses His friend. He starts crying when He sees the others crying and just when He is about to go and raise Lazarus from the dead. Listen: Jesus starts crying right before He brings His good friend to life! What's wrong with the Messiah?
The question is, "What's wrong with us?" I believe Jesus is weeping because the people do not understand the reality of eternal life. He is weeping because they do not understand that Lazarus is not dead, but walking around in Paradise, a world far better than ours, a world that, were we allowed a brief glimpse, we would easily accept all of the sorrows of this earth to acquire. Think of Maui and Cancuun and the Caribbean all rolled into one and multiplied by a billion, and you haven't grasped the beauty and wonder and pleasures of the Intermediate Heaven. Christ is weeping because the people haven't really wrapped their minds and hearts around the truth that "this side" is but an echo, murmur, and shadow of the beautiful world "on the other side". And as He weeps before He commands Lazarus to come out, I believe He is weeping because He is about to bring a close and intimate friend out of Paradise and back into the sin-contaminated Earth. Christ has seen the splendors of Heaven and He is sorry that Lazarus will have to return, where no doubt he will deal with depression, anxiety and sorrow because he was taken from the land that made him whole.
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