advent: why is Jesus crying?

During Advent our community is asking the question, “Why is the return of Christ a good reason for hope?”  

And to answer that big question, we need to consider another question, a really basic question from the story of the death of Lazarus (John 11) in which John writes, "Jesus wept."  

The question is, "Why is Jesus crying?"

There are 2 reasons that are given in the story:

1. Jesus is crying because he loved Lazarus.  They were friends.  Jesus would spend time at Lazarus’ home.  Lazarus is never mentioned in any of the stories of Jesus’ ministry.  He’s not one of the 12 disciples.  He’s just a friend.  He’s a good friend.  When Mary writes the note and sends it with a messenger to Jesus, the note she writes says simply, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”  Jesus is crying because his good friend has suffered and died. 

2. Jesus is crying because he could have done something about it.  This is the first thing out of the mouth of each of Lazarus’ sisters: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  And this is the commentary, the general opinion of those who have been welcomed into the inner circle of Lazarus’ family during the early days of grieving: “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Couldn’t Jesus have done something about this? 

What’s so challenging about this story is what’s so challenging about the storms of life:

(We ask) God, didn’t you know this was going to happen?

(And the story says) Yes, he knew it was going to happen…  – and yet he weeps

(And so we wonder) What will happen next?

(But the story says) he knew what was going to happen next (he was going to bring Lazarus back to life – everything’s going to be OK) – and yet he weeps. 

Why is Jesus crying?

I’d suggest that Jesus is crying because even though he has a plan to restore all things, and even though that plan has already begun, the time for that plan to reach completion is still a long way off. 

And between now and then there will be lots of storms and they will be pitiless. 

Sisters will crumble to their knees in grief.

Friends invited into the inner circle of the tragedy will protest: Why didn’t Jesus do something?

Jesus cries because the storms will continue to rage.

Yes, Lazarus walks out of the grave and many people believe, but in 5 years or 10 or 20 Lazarus will get sick again.  Death will visit this house again. 

Jesus is crying in this story because this was the time to inaugurate the kingdom, this was the time to reveal the kingdom, but this was not the time to consummate the kingdom, this was not the time to bring to completion the plan of restoration. 

The resurrection of Lazarus was a miracle that signaled what was to come.  In truth it was a very small battle - it revealed who the true Victor was, and who the true Victor was going to be.  Within months Jesus would be killed and would rise again, winning the decisive battle over death.  But, like D Day, even though the decisive battle was one, the war would rage on for a long time afterwards. 

And I think Jesus wept because he saw his dear friends weeping and he saw their friends weeping and devastated and hopeless and he knew there’s going to be a lot of pain and a lot of loss and a lot of storms before this story is done…between the time when the game is won and the game is over. 

Jesus is crying because he knows the enemy will be defeated in the resurrection, but he also knows the enemy will not soon be destroyed.

That’s why Jesus is crying.

[check back for part two to this post: If Jesus is crying, why are Christians hopeful?]

practical prayer

Prayer can be difficult.

This little book is meant to help. 

 

It’s short because it’s a starter, a catalyst, a first peek into a castle that takes a lifetime to explore. 

                                    
The words in this book are just a sampling of some of the prayers that have guided the devotion of millions of people for thousands of years. 

There is much more where this came from.

It’s small because we hope you’ll carry it with you as a practical tool to establish a new habit or to deepen an old habit of communicating with God all throughout the day.

You really can learn to pray.

You really can become a person of prayer.

Working on my next teaching on the "secret wisdom" of God.  Discovered this great quote from Augustine:

But if Christ had not been put to death, death would not have died.  The devil was overcome by his own trophy, for the devil rejoiced when, by seducing the first man, he cast him into death.  By seducing the first man, he killed him.  By killing the last man, he lost the first from his snare.

Three Questions Toward the Rebuilding of Trust

How can trust be rebuilt even through failure?

Perhaps its a matter of asking the right questions.

A BIBLICAL QUESTION: 

More important than the question,

                  "Can Peter be trusted?" is the question,

                  "Can Jesus be trusted?" 

Jesus chose Peter.  But can Peter be trusted?  

No. 

He said, “I’ll never leave you.  I’ll die for you.  Even if everyone else bails, I’ll stay.” 

But then he got scared and he broke trust. 

And yet the relationship between Jesus and Peter, ultimately grows.

It's not because Peter can be trusted.

It's because Jesus can. 

                 

A PERSONAL QUESTION: 

More important than the question,

         "Can you trust your child?" is the question,

         "Can your child trust you?"* 

In other words, the way relationships between kids and parents gets stronger – even through failure – is by the parent showing that they are trustworthy even when the kid fails. 

AN ULTIMATE QUESTION:

         And an even more important question is this:

                 "Can we trust God?"

So the ultimate question isn’t about Peter or my kids or me or anyone else.

It’s not about our trustworthiness.  It's really about God's. 

         Healthy attachment can grow – even through failure –

                  whenever the invitation exists to

                           root the relationship in the

                                    greater strength of Another.  

When my relationship with you isn't ultimately about me or you, but instead is rooted in God, then there is always hope - even hope for the rebuilding of trust.  Because ultimately, our relationship isn't about my trustworthiness or yours.  It's about God's.  And as we both look to Him for wholeness, our own brokenness can be overcome.  

*Parenting Beyond Your Capacity, Joiner and Nieuhoff

Love is Stronger

There's another shift that needs to take place if we're going to pass-on the faith to the next generation:

We must truly believe that love is stronger than fear.

I think this is always true.

But it is especially true in terms of Biblical character development. In the Christian story, love is the starting point, not fear of punishment.

Some of us would probably say that our faith development was very much motivated by a fear of punishment – as in eternal punishment.   And I realize some fearful threats exist in scripture, that there are Biblical stories of God punishing people, and that fear works as a motivator on a lot of levels. 

But I'd respond to any proponent of a model rooted in fear with this:

First, fear might work, but true love works better.  Love is an even better motivator than fear.  Its literally better (as in more good).  And it lasts longer.

Fear of punishment might motivate me to keep the rules, to drive the speed limit, at least until the cop drives by.  Once the threat of punishment is removed usually the motivation to keep the rules is gone too.  Unless the motivation is something stronger than fear.  Fear of punishment can motivate a person to keep the rules.  But is that what the Christian faith is about?  Keeping the rules?  No. 

And second, God wants us to be motivated by love.  This whole story is based on God wanting a real, authentic, love relationship with people.  


Love is stronger than fear.

I need to believe that when I pray.
I need to believe that when I parent.

intuition beats intellection

If we are to have a fighting chance in the struggle of passing-on the faith to the next generation, we need to shift our beliefs about how true formation happens.

We need to believe and embrace that intuition beats intellection. When it comes to religious formation:
meaning our character,
                  our ethics,
                  our beliefs,
                  the things that ultimately form the way we live,        
Intuitive Development matters
far more than intellectual development.
 In other words, you can be taught intellectually,
through formal educational methods:
         lecture, books, etc.,
                  that most snakes are perfectly harmless.
 
But if you intuitively feel uneasy around snakes –
even little ones with little mouths –
         then what you believe intuitively
                  will beat out what you’ve been taught intellectually.

Or you could hear from a teacher at church that
you should love people because Jesus loved people –
you might hear a story about Jesus loving people,
you might do a craft and
         make a heart and
         write a Bible verse on it “God so loved the world” and
         give it to your mom for the refrigerator door…
          but if what you experience in much of real life
                  is that loving people is risky,
                  if you don’t sense that those in your home
                           treat one another lovingly,
                  if you, intuitively, know that you’re not really
                           loved by those around you,
 what is happening intuitivelybeats out what is happening intellectually.  


Every time.  


John Westerhoff III writes this in his book Will Our Children Have Faith? "…I learned that there are two ways to think and know,
the intellectual and the intuitive. And it is the intuitive,
the pre-rational… that is foundational to religious life."
  
We could say it this way:
all of life educates (not just “formal” education).

So here's my question:
What did you teach your child today when you weren't even trying to teach them?  

Laugh at the Destroyer

"Israel ate the meat of a dumb lamb to complete the Passover.  Having done so, they smeared their doorposts with blood and laughed at the destroyer."  - Athanasius 4th Century

Amidst the pain
Of suffering
Of deceit
Of injustice
Of sorrow

I Stand
Behind the Blood

And proclaim:
"You can kill my body but you cannot have my soul.
I am purchased by the Redeemer who Rose Again.
And when sin's tantrum is finally exhausted I will stand with my King,
Fully alive.