A time to weep

"Jeremiah has been labeled the 'weeping prophet' and, though there is hardly any Old Testament character about whom we have more biographical material, this totally unworthy phrase constitutes his entire biography for a majority of people," explains a Bible commentator from 1925. "He did weep, and for good cause. God laid on him a tremendous burden, and once when he cried out because he was carrying every bit he possibly could, God's answer to him was, 'Cheer up, Jeremiah, the worst is yet to come,' or in Jeremiah 12:5:

[5] If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?

"Only a courageous spirit could stand a message like that, and Jeremiah was, on the whole, the bravest figure in the Old Testament."

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The word "wept" appears in the KJV 71 times. One very famous verse that's even been turned into song is Psalm 137:1: [1] By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

Of course, Bible students, even the youngest, know the shortest verse in the entire Bible is John 11:35: “Jesus wept.”

In Luke 19, Christ wept over Jerusalem: [41] And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it.

"Every time you see Christ weep it’s in connection with the effect and consequences of sin," explains Richard Jordan. "In John 11, Lazarus has been claimed by death and Christ has come to vanquish death. When you read verse 33 there where ‘he groaned in the spirit and was troubled,’ the plain fact is He wept for the same reason that we weep. Death is an enemy; it’s a horror of great darkness, not a friend.

“It was the fullness of His grief and His sympathy. 'A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.’ Of course, verse 37 kind of shocks you back into reality: [37] And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
[38] Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

“There are always going to be some people in the crowd just absolutely determined not to believe anything good about Him. They’re going to find fault if there’s any way to find it and, if not, they’re going to make up something.

“The healing of that blind man on that Sabbath day stuck in the craw of some of these guys and it’s still an issue in John 11. They’re still perplexed by it; it’s still in the air.

“In verse 37, even at the graveside, is lurking that spirit of unbelief and antagonism. This time Christ’s not groaning because Lazarus is dead--He’s groaning in response to the unbelief; the capacity to not believe.

“There’s a great verse in Hebrews 12:3: ‘For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.’

“Jesus Christ felt the antagonism. My point to you is that when Christ went through these things, it wasn’t just stoic passivism. You know, sometimes we just harden ourselves against resistance and just gut it out. He wasn’t doing that; this stuff struck at His heart and He FELT it! He endured the contradiction of sinners against Him."

(new article tomorrow. Thanks to Norton Support call center, a very nice and patient tech agent from India brought my new laptop into smooth working order for the most part. Whew! Last night, I tried uninstalling anything and everything and it still didn't work, making me think I got another lemon--something that has happened to me twice now with brand-new laptops.)