The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 119

wing of his friendship, and there taeted of the sweets of human kindness in an hostile world ; these reminiscences now crowded his memory, filled his heart with sorrow, and hie eyce with tears. 8. It Wall most intense. II it had been only of a short duration, this wne amply made up in depth, breadth, and intensity, Jesus could love in an hour more than we can in an age. Hie love to Lazarus mnst be intense ere ho would weep. Small natures can weep often, but great ones only weep on extraordinary occasions. Only twice it is recorded that Jesue wept. Once over a spiritually dead city; now near the grave of a departed friend. One was the wail of pity, and the other the wail of personal and wounded love ; and so intense were hie feelings that they could not be suitably expressed but in tears, nor find relief but in a wail of sorrow. III. As·EXPREBSIONS OF IIIB THOROUGH HUMANITY, 1. It iB characteristically hwman fo weep. We know not of any other being tha.t can weep but ma.n. Angels, perhaps, have not the power to weep; they certainly have no need. Devils have need, but not the inclination and power. Man has the need and power to weep. Jesus was a thorough Man; he wept. 2. It ia human to weep with those that weep. Human sorrow is ever conlo.gious. Tears are its natural language. A thorough man will ever ho impressed by the emotions of his fellows, and will express them, 38 well as those of his own, in the general language of tears. 3. Jesus was thoroughly human. "Jesus wept." We are glad in a sense that he wept ; we rejoice in his tears, for in them we meet him as a thorough Man. .A Saviour who could not weep, could not be n. perfect Saviour for us; but in tears we embrace him as our human Friend. We scarcely know which to admire and adore most-Jesus on his way to the grave, in bis thorough humanity weeping; or Jesus at the grave, in his thorough Divinity calling the dead to life. In the one he is our God, in the other he is our Brother; and in both be is our perfect Saviour. IV. As EXPRESSIONS OF Drvnra COMPASSION. 1. His compassion was Divine. The tears were human, but the compassion and sympathy were Divine as well. God, 38 such, cannot shed tears-cannot weep; but he can sympathize, pity, and sorrow. 'l'he tears of Jesus were virtually those of incarnate Deity, they were mithful and expressive translatjons of Divine emotions into human language, and a revelation of the Divine in the human. 2. His compassion wa11 practical. Our compassion often begins and ends in tears. We are helpless. We weep over the graves of departed friends; we can do nothing else. Our tears cannot restore them to life and society. But the tears of Jesus did this. They became unbearable to Heaven; they moved Divine power, and Lazarus had to return. 'l'hey were divinely practical, and practically Divine. Jesus does not literally weep now, but in his friends, and this wail shall by-and-by bring about the great resurrection and the grand reunion at the last day. LESSONS, It is natural and right to weep after departed friends. 1. .Although we know that they are in happy ea;istence, far happier than on this side. Jesus knew that Lazarus was so; still he wept. 2. .Although we know that we shall soon meet agai-n. Jesus kuew th11t he should soon meet Lazarus even on this side; still he wept. 3. When we weep after our departed friends, who are also the friends of Jesus, we are noe alone, J esue wept, and virtually weeps still, and shall not cease till all bis friends are fully with him, o.nd with each other, and death swallowed up in victory.-B. T. Ver. 40.-The 11ision of the Divine glory. "JeSllll said unto Martha., Sa.id I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou ehouldest see the glory of God?" When Lazarus of Bethany fell sick, his sisters sent e. messenger beyond Jordan to carry the tidings to J eeus. Our Lord's reply was to the following effect: "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God," etc. We cannot doubt that these words, or the substa.nce of them, wns conveyed by the messenger to Martha and Mary, and yet, either before the arrival of the message or shortly after, Lazarus died, and his death was followed by his burial. Four do.ye of mourning passed away, and at last Jesus himself came to Bethany. Marthe. met him at the outskirt11 of the village, and be told her that her brother should rise again, and that he himself was the Resurrection and the Life. A.t last the Saviour stood at Lazarus's grave. It was a cave, and its inner recess, which concealed the dead from view, was blocked up by a stone. Before it stood Martha and Mary and e. crowd of their weeping friends. But when our Lord bade the bystanders take IIWI\Y the stone, then Martha interfered. She evidently hoped from first to last that  THE GOSPEL AdCOil'btNG TO S'l'. JOHN. [OR, 11. 1-87,