Why Are You Cast Down?

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, he whom You love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it He said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” After saying these things, He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Now when Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met Him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met Him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.” When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.”

“Jesus wept.”

John 11:1-44, Psalm 42:11, John 11:35

When I think about attempting to be a good father, many things come to mind: loving my children unconditionally, praying for them, teaching them and guiding them through life, providing for them, and enjoying life with them. If I am honest, teaching them to weep, or a word we sometimes use from the Bible, lament, is usually not high on my list. I actually think that my wife and I spend a lot of energy doing our best to make sure our kids don’t have to lament. So, how do we respond, both as parents and as individuals, when grief and sorrow find us out? 

How do we respond when our kids feel lonely and just want a friend? How do we respond when they don’t get into the school we want them to get into? How do we train our children to respond to injustices they encounter, whether experienced by them or perhaps witnessed by them? How do we respond when our children experience grief for the first time?

Part of living in a fallen world and being called to be God’s people through Christ is learning to live with weeping and lament. There are two Greek words for weeping that describe some of Jesus’ weeping as a human in the gospels. The first one shows up in Luke 19:41, klaiō from our Palm Sunday study, and is a loud wailing and weeping. The second one that comes from John 11, dakruō, is a more silent, internal weeping. When we think about our natural response to sin, brokenness, grief, loss, or injustice, Jesus’ forms of lament in being fully human are meant to encourage us to enter in ourselves. It doesn’t matter what form our lament takes: silent, reflective, expressive, or overwhelming. We were meant to be a people who lament. 

Psalm 42 which is quoted above, is a Psalm of Lament. Did you know the Hebrews had a whole collection of Psalms, prayers and songs, that were meant to help God’s people lament? In Psalm 42 we see a range of images that speak of an unnamed sorrow: tears being our food, tears being our accuser, memories of better times, souls being cast down, being overtaken by waves and water, and deadly wound in my bones. 

Part of the triumph of being called out as God’s people in Christ is realizing that our triumph in Christ also gives us the security to lament. We can be sad and struck down by the personal trials and bitter providences the Lord lays before us, because we know our future is secure with Christ. We can be present and cast down by the injustices we see in our world around us, those deep, hard questions about the “why?”, because we know God is going to make all things right in the end. 

But Jesus’ example of weeping and showing us His humanity is not just an example for us. His lamenting and His weeping are the things that transform us into a hope-filled lamenting people. Jesus lamented because of compassion for His people. He also lamented because His coming to Earth as a human and His descending into hell as the sacrifice for our sin caused Jesus great pain. He was forsaken by God the Father. Our lamenting is real, and God sees it. But Jesus’ lamenting has eternal consequences for us: it transforms us into a hope-filled lamenting people. In this Easter season, we remember that His resurrection secures and proves to our souls that no matter what we are going through, no matter what injustice we are experiencing, we “shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.”