Date: 15-09-24
Preacher: Ps Ong Kian Kee
Title: Jesus Wept

Jesus Wept

For those of us who found the title of this morning’s message familiar, Ps Lam delivered a message with the same title on the 24 th March this year. In fact, Ps Ong himself delivered another message related to tearing in the bible entitled ‘Joseph Wept’ on the 30 th June 2024. It is God’s way to refresh our faith. Ps Ong’s biblical reference was from John 11:32-38. He started by recounting an often-told story of how a man wondered where Jesus was when he was most miserable as he saw only one set of footprints on the sandy beach where he was. Jesus told the man that the set of footprints was actually His and He was carrying the man through his lowest point. Ps Ong was recounting a God with a heart for men.

Ps Ong shared that Jesus cried 3 times in the bible and these and the corresponding context he listed under:

1. Family level – which was covered in his message this morning on the death and resurrection of Lazarus.
2. National level – which happened when He was weeping for Jerusalem as He knew God’s fury would be unleashed on the city and its people for turning their backs on Him.
3. Universal level – which was for humanity at the Mount of Olives just before His impending crucifixion.

Ps Ong then shared the background of Lazarus who was at the centre of Jesus’ miracle in Bethany. His family was financially well off as he was buried in a cave and at the time of his death, Jesus was 30 km away from Bethany. Jesus arrived 4 days later after Lazarus’ death and the duration of time put paid to any lingering belief that a dead person could come back to life as his spirit was still hovering over his body and not because of Jesus’ intervention.

For his message this morning, Ps Ong said Jesus cried for three reasons. The first revealed His human nature. The second reason for His tears was because the people lacked faith and the third was his awareness of the destruction caused by death. His crying bore out his ‘humanness’ as crying is the deepest and most intimate expression of human nature. Ps Ong said that when another human laughs with you, he may not really be with you but when a fellow human cries with you, you know he/she is with you and compassion is shown. On the dual nature of God and man, Ps Ong quoted 1 Tim 3:16 which says ‘great is the mystery of godliness’ for Jesus is 100% human and 100% God. In fact, dispute over Christ’s dual nature raged on in the early 500 years of the Church. At this point it is heart-warming to learn that compared with Jesus, other gods do not cry for man but often make sports of them.

Ps Ong next shared that Christ values faith and through His resurrecting Lazarus, He was restoring the faith of His disciples and also the perspective of Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha. In fact, His disciples reminded Jesus how badly He was treated in Judea when He wanted all of them to return there to see Lazarus. While He did not rebuke them for their lack of faith, He told them in John 11:15 that ‘am I glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.’

Finally, Christ wept because death destroys and distorts human nature and in Jesus’ agenda, death is the final enemy to deal with although that victory is already secured with His death and resurrection.