Deus Misereatur

  “ Jesus wept ”! [1] I don’t think we grasp the deep significance of these words and your weeping. You truly are humbled, your “low condition,” your “undergoing the miseries of this life.” [2] You grieved your friend’s death, the black sorrow it poured into Mary and Martha, and the awfulness of the situation! And then you were accused three times that it was all your fault: Martha and Mary [3] who believed in you, who trusted you – accused you! And then the crowds [4] faulted you as well. O Lord, how meaningful this all is – God in the flesh wept, undergoing the miseries of this life! You know! You weep! Lord, some who I know need your tears to mingle with theirs. Chronic pain that will not end; dark moods that suffocate; fracturing marriage that refuses to be resolved; broken relationship that shoves its sharp shards deep into their hearts. Oh, weeping Lord! Weep with them, be deeply moved in your spirit and troubled for them. [5] And as you absorbed Mary’s and Martha’s ac...

Deeply Moved John 11.17-29, 32-35, 38. Often time this passage is rummaged through for its comforting words in verses 25-26. And then v. 35 is latched onto by others who want to sarcastically or humorously flaunt the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” But there is a great depth to this true episode in Jesus’ life, and this afternoon I want to draw your hearts and minds to three things: (1) The Accusing Voices; (2) The Anticipation; and (3) The Anguish. The Accusing Voices (v. 21 and 32) “Lord, if you had been here,…”: You hear it in this scene – the same thing family members hear in their heads and heart; “If only you had been here…If only you had spent more time with them…if only you had only been a better son/daughter…if only you had…!” Even our Lord Jesus, at the death of his dear friend Lazarus heard those voices accusing him, admonishing him, accosting him! Remember this as you hear those voices in your heads, those whispers and jeers condemning you, shaming...

To you, O LORD our God, belong heaven, and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Yet you have set your heart in love on our forbearers and chosen us, their offspring in the faith. Help us to circumcise the foreskins of our hearts, throwing off all stubbornness toward you; for you, O LORD our God, are God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe (Deuteronomy 10.14-17). O Lord, hear our prayer. Lord Jesus, nothing can withstand your word of life! Just as you called out and raised Lazarus from the dead, even after he had been in the grave for four days (John 11); Speak health and life, Lord Jesus, to those for whom we pray – those lingering at the door of death, those with crushed hearts and souls, those with debilitating weaknesses, and those with body-and-mind shattering ailments. O Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, our God, Lord of lords and King of kings, thanks be to you because you have blessed ...