He knows. He understands. He cares. He has been there.
http://youtu.be/fX20vnf5hH4 - I have been there - Mark Shultz
A few years ago, our women's group at church prepared a little photo album of all the members. One of the things that was included was our favorite bible verse. Now, for me, that is a very difficult question. My favorite verse changes depending on my circumstances. There are so many precious words of encouragement and wisdom in God's Word, it's hard to pick just one and say "This is my favorite!" But finally, I settled on this passage from John:
John 11:35 NLT
Then Jesus wept.
Jesus wept - Most people remember John 11:35 as the shortest verse in the Bible, but to me it's so much more. I see a tenderhearted, loving friend who hurts when His friends hurt.
Jesus knew that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. He knew Mary and Martha would be rejoicing in just a few moments. But for that moment, He felt their sadness and hopelessness. He felt what they felt. And Jesus wept with them.
As Christians, we too should sympathize with others in their afflictions.
Romans 12:15 NLT
"Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep." John shared with us the tender heart of Jesus. This same Jesus wept over Jerusalem. His heart was full of compassion and love for a city full of people who were dying in their sins, and yet still they were unwilling to accept His Gift of Salvation. He longed to gather them to Himself as a hen gathers her chicks.
Luke 13:24-25
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 35 And now, look, your house is abandoned. And you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Jesus made a way for us to come to Him and be saved. Some refused to connect the message of Salvation to our Lord and Savior. He felt a great sadness that there were those who would not accept Him and be saved. But for us who believe, He understand everything we go through. He has compassion when we feel betrayed by friend. He knows how that feels. He's been there. He knows how it feels to be rejected for no good reason. He's been there. He knows what it's like to feel alone. He's been there.
He understands everything we go through and He has great compassion towards us.
Remember when Stephen was being stoned and just before he died, Stephen looked up to the heavens and listen to what he saw:
Acts 7:54-56
The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 56 And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”
Stephen saw Jesus the Christ, the Son of Almighty God, and He was not sitting calmly on a throne next to His Father. He was standing. Jesus knew what Stephen was going through, didn't He? He had been there. And in my heart, I believe that Jesus was standing in honor of Stephen with a heart full of compassion as He witnessed the brutal stoning of His precious one. I imagine Stephen looking into the eyes of Jesus seeing strength and encouragement - I bet he was almost able to hear Jesus say: "Stephen, I'm with you always! Don't be afraid. You're coming Home! I'm right here."
Hebrews 4:15
So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.I'm including some notes from various commentaries on my favorite verse! John 11:35 maybe short but it is powerful. It feels my heart with gratitude and love towards a Savior who cares so deeply when we hurt that He weeps.
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Clarke's Commentary on the Bible
Jesus wept - The least verse in the Bible, yet inferior to none. Some of the ruthless ancients, improperly styled fathers of the Church, thought that weeping was a degradation of the character of Christ; and therefore, according to the testimony of Epiphanius, Anchorat. c. 13, razed out of the Gospel of St. Luke the place (Luke 19:41) where Christ is said to have wept over Jerusalem.
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Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jesus wept. As he was going along to the grave, see John 11:28; as he was meditating upon the state of his friend Lazarus, the distress his two sisters were in, and the greater damnation that would befall the Jews then present, who, notwithstanding the miracle, would not believe in him. This shows him to be truly and really man, subject to like passions, only without sin.
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Vincent's Word Studies
Wept (ἐδάκρυσεν)
A different verb from that in John 11:31. From δάκρυ, tear, and meaning to shed tears, to weep silently. Only here in the New Testament. Κλαίω, to weep audibly, is once used of our Lord in Luke 19:41. "The very Gospel in which the deity of Jesus is most clearly asserted, is also that which makes us best acquainted with the profoundly human side of His life" (Godet). How far such a conception of deity is removed from the pagan ideal, may be seen by even a superficial study of the classics. Homer's gods and goddesses weep and bellow when wounded, but are not touched with the feeling of human infirmity (see on John 3:16). "The gods," says Gladstone, "while they dispense afflictions upon earth, which are neither sweetened by love, nor elevated by a distinct disciplinary purpose, take care to keep themselves beyond all touch of grief or care."
"The gods ordain
The lot of man to suffer, while themselves
free from care."
"Iliad," xxiv., 525.
So Diana, when appealed to by the wretched Hippolytus for sympathy, replies:
"I see thy love, but must not shed a tear."
Euripides, "Hippolytes," 1396.
The Roman satirist unconsciously bears witness to the profound truthfulness and beauty of this picture of the weeping Savior, in the words: "Nature confesses that she gives the tenderest of hearts to the human race by giving them tears: this is the best part of our sensations" (Juvenal, "Satire" xv., 131-133).
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Wesley's Notes
11:35 Jesus wept - Out of sympathy with those who were in tears all around him, as well as from a deep sense of the misery sin had brought upon human nature.
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
35. Jesus wept-This beautifully conveys the sublime brevity of the two original words; else "shed tears" might have better conveyed the difference between the word here used and that twice employed in John 11:33, and there properly rendered "weeping," denoting the loud wail for the dead, while that of Jesus consisted of silent tears. Is it for nothing that the Evangelist, some sixty years after it occurred, holds up to all ages with such touching brevity the sublime spectacle of the Son of God in tears? What a seal of His perfect oneness with us in the most redeeming feature of our stricken humanity! But was there nothing in those tears beyond sorrow for human suffering and death? Could these effects move Him without suggesting the cause? Who can doubt that in His ear every feature of the scene proclaimed that stern law of the Kingdom, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), and that this element in His visible emotion underlay all the rest?
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Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
11:33-46 Christ's tender sympathy with these afflicted friends, appeared by the troubles of his spirit. In all the afflictions of believers he is afflicted. His concern for them was shown by his kind inquiry after the remains of his deceased friend. Being found in fashion as a man, he acts in the way and manner of the sons of men. It was shown by his tears. He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Tears of compassion resemble those of Christ. But Christ never approved that sensibility of which many are proud, while they weep at mere tales of distress, but are hardened to real woe. He sets us an example to withdraw from scenes of giddy mirth, that we may comfort the afflicted. And we have not a High Priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. It is a good step toward raising a soul to spiritual life, when the stone is taken away, when prejudices are removed, and got over, and way is made for the word to enter the heart. If we take Christ's word, and rely on his power and faithfulness, we shall see the glory of God, and be happy in the sight. Our Lord Jesus has taught us, by his own example, to call God Father, in prayer, and to draw nigh to him as children to a father, with humble reverence, yet with holy boldness. He openly made this address to God, with uplifted eyes and loud voice, that they might be convinced the Father had sent him as his beloved Son into the world. He could have raised Lazarus by the silent exertion of his power and will, and the unseen working of the Spirit of life; but he did it by a loud call. This was a figure of the gospel call, by which dead souls are brought out of the grave of sin: and of the sound of the archangel's trumpet at the last day, with which all that sleep in the dust shall be awakened, and summoned before the great tribunal. The grave of sin and this world, is no place for those whom Christ has quickened; they must come forth. Lazarus was thoroughly revived, and returned not only to life, but to health. The sinner cannot quicken his own soul, but he is to use the means of grace; the believer cannot sanctify himself, but he is to lay aside every weight and hindrance. We cannot convert our relatives and friends, but we should instruct, warn, and invite them.
Father God, I'm so very thankful that You have given us a compassionate High Priest in Son, Jesus. He knows and understands when we hurt or struggle. His heart is full of love and tenderness - compassion. His mercies are new every morning. Thank You for Your precious Gift of a loving Savior. No amount of "good deeds" could every pay back the enormous debt I owe. Help me to give the only thing I can - a life lived for You. Thank You for forgiving me when I fail every single day. Thank You for lifting me back up each time. I love You. Be glorified in my life, however that needs to look. Your Will be done. In the precious Name of Jesus the Christ, my Savior and my Lord. Amen.
http://youtu.be/fuAxzEuzNGg - Love them like Jesus - Casting Crowns
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