John 11

My Favorite Verse… in 1965

I remember what the pencil looked like: It had golden lettering and a beautifully perfect red eraser on the top. In bright lettering the side read “God Loves You!”. And all I had to do to get Mrs. Henderson to give me on was to memorize a verse of scripture. Any verse of scripture… so long as someone else hadn’t already chosen it. Unfortunately the easy targets were already gone: John 3:16, Genesis 1:1 and the like.

But I had a secret weapon: John 11:35! It’s right in the middle of the reading for today. After Jesus gets the news of his good friend Lazarus’ illness, he and the disciples head to Bethany. This is no small decision as the opposition to Jesus was definitely at threat level red. Thomas is so worried about the trip that he thinks their heading there to join Lazarus in death.

But Jesus had other plans.

He amazes the world and marks his divinity with a sentence: “Lazarus, come out!” But And the dead man walked out of the tomb.

But that wasn’t the most amazing moment. That comes in John 11:35.

Two little words that show me the heart of Christ.

Two little words that make his humanity real.

Two little words that let me see that he really cares…and still does.

“Jesus wept.”

Think about it: Isn’t it amazing that though Jesus knew he was about to bring his friend back from the dead he still wept. Why not just get on with the healing? Why go through the emotion of weeping when he was about to end the mourning and start the party?

I think those two little words happened because Jesus really did care about the grief Mary and Martha were feeling. He wept because he was touched by the pain of being human and the loss that every death brings. He wept for every friend, mother, brother or child who loses someone dear to them to mortality’s cold grip.

And because of that, they are still two of my favorite words in the New Testament.

Here’s my advice: Memorize them!


Jeff Walling
March 27