The Shortest Verse

I usually just thought of it as a piece of trivia: 

What’s the shortest verse in the Bible?

 Jesus wept.

But I never really gave the story behind it much thought.  Why was He weeping?  He had just been told that his good friend Lazarus was dead.  Yes, that Lazarus, the one to be raised from the dead.  If Jesus was about to raise up his body and redeem him from death’s grasp, why weep?  He could reverse the situation, why so much heartache?

Perhaps He merely acted on faith when He raised poor Lazarus from the tomb.  We read that He “increased in wisdom… and in favor with God and man”; did even Christ work on faith and not necessarily knowledge?  It was at the tomb that He thanked the Father for hearing Him.  Perhaps He did not know for certain, He merely trusted until that moment at the tomb that everything would work out.  That’s just speculation.

But I think another possible answer is simply that He was the perfect Man.

And man is meant to mourn.

I am surprised at how deeply Max’s passing is affecting me.  I have no appetite, I'm exhausted all the time, I can't focus, I have no will to do homework, I have no motivation to do even the simplest things I usually enjoy.  I only briefly knew him, why should it hurt so much to have him gone? 

Is it reminding me of my own grandfather’s passing?  Is it reopening old wounds?  Are old losses resurfacing?  

Is it merely empathetic suffering for poor B., who has been distraught for days even before Max left us?  Is her heartbreak breaking my own heart in turn?   

Is it merely causing me grief to see so many of my many in-laws so deeply saddened?  Now that I know my father-in-law better, does it sting to lose his father, the man who told us embarrassing stories and gave me endless dirt on my dad-in-law?  

Is it just a universal human experience to grieve for those who have left us?

Is man meant to mourn?

I didn’t know him well.  I know he’s in a better place.  Why is this so hard for me?

Jesus wept.  I can, too.

Thanks to all who send their prayers and well-wishes to the Rogers family. 

S