Jesus Wept

Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” John 11:30-44 

Jesus Wept

Dear Savior who wept at Lazarus' grave

we weep as we sadly remember today

all the losses and the fear of 19 years ago

and the losses this season has revealed.

We find ourselves beside too many graves

the pain and agony etched into our beings

we want to lash out and viciously destroy

those who would cause us to be so broken.

You stand among us today calling us to see

beyond the fears and trauma of this season

to the work of unbinding and setting free

the work we are call to by you love.

Give us your strength to face the gaping wounds

empower us to bind the wounded with love

renew us so that we might unbind and set free

all the weary travelers who stand near by today. Amen