Every week at our synagogue, our children stand before the congregation and recite a verse from the Bible that they have memorized. Some of the children work very hard and memorize several verses, while others memorize only one. Every once in a while, one of the children wanting to participate, but not having spent the effort that week to learn a new verse, will stand in front of the congregation and recite the shortest verse in the Bible - two words. The verse comes from John 10:35, and the entire verse is “Yeshua wept.” While this verse is small, don’t let its brevity diminish its importance, especially for us today.
The context of this verse in John chapter 11 is that Lazarus, a man whom Yeshua loved, has died and been buried. Yeshua looks at the tomb and weeps. Just think about this for a moment. The Creator of the Universe at that moment may have shed tears for the very first time, after all, in Heaven there are no tears. It took G-D wrapping Himself in human flesh and dwelling among people in order for Him to shed tears. Throughout the pages of the Bible, which describe the life and experiences of Yeshua, this is the one place where we read that He cried, and He cried because someone He loved had died.
I bring this up this week because as I look around me, I cannot help but see people that G-D loves dying. In the USA, we see hundreds killed nearly every week through street violence, and thousands killed through abortion. In Syria this last week, thousands were executed. In Israel’s war with Gaza, we continue to see people die. In Russia and Ukraine, thousands more died in the war. We continue to see deaths in Africa from sectarian violence, and deaths in Central and South America from political violence and drug cartels.
According to the Bible, the reason G-D flooded the earth in Noah’s day was due to the violence taking place among mankind. Yet, we seem to have forgotten just how much G-D hates it when men are violent against each other.
When we, even believers, look at our televisions, or our computers, and read or watch the news about the violence taking the lives of so many people daily, what is our response, and what should be our response? Generally, our response is to choose sides in the conflicts. Now, please don’t get me wrong. I know that these are both good and evil and I know that there are times when wars, no matter how ugly, are necessary. After all, when Yeshua Himself was asked by soldiers what should they do, He didn’t tell them to stop being soldiers, as we read in Luke 3:
Luke 3:14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
I’m simply saying that choosing sides in violent conflicts should not be our first response. Our first response to knowing that a person G-D loved has died should be the same as the response Yeshua had. We should weep. Our hearts should break for every life that is snuffed out by violence no matter where in the world the death takes place because every person, no matter where they live, is loved by G-D, just as Lazarus was and therefore they should be loved by us. They were given life by their Creator and Yeshua gave His life on the cross for each and every one of them.
Just as Yeshua did, we should look towards the thousands, if not millions, of people who are dying and weep. Our hearts should break knowing that G-D loved each and every one of them. The answer to the question “I wonder if G-D is crying” is only through the tears of His people.