“I Know That You Always Hear Me”

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

John 11:32-44

We are made in God’s image. Humor is an integral part of almost every culture. We can imagine Jesus having a wonderful sense of humor. But He also knew the pain of grief. When His friend Lazarus died, Jesus saw Mary weeping, and He began to weep.

Our ability to express our emotions with tears is a gift, and God keeps track of every tear we cry. God has collected all of our tears, and each one has been recorded in His book.

We are promised that one day God will wipe away every tear.

Our loving heavenly Father who washed away our sins, will also wipe away our tears.

Our Daily Bread – May 30, 2015