Why was Jesus so deeply affected? He Had already spoken to the Father and knew that Lazarus would be raised from the dead, He even told Martha, your brother will rise again, so Jesus clearly was not deeply upset that Lazarus had died.
The bible does directly not say what caused Jesus to be so upset, but from the context it seems as though the response of Martha, Mary and his disciples is what upset Him. Both Martha and Mary said, “Jesus, if you would have been here my brother would not have died”.
When Lazarus became very sick, Martha and Mary (who were in Jesus inner circle) sent an urgent message to Jesus… “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” Jesus responded in a very unexpected way, instead of rushing over and healing Lazarus, Jesus sent back a message to Martha, Mary and Lazarus, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Then Jesus deliberately stalled… the bible says, ‘Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then it says that He made a deliberate detour to Judea.
After Jesus discerned that Lazarus had died He said, “Lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I’m glad I wasn’t there, because now you have another opportunity to see who I am so that you will learn to trust in me. Come, let’s go and see him.”
Instead of being full of faith and taking Jesus at His word that Lazarus would not remain dead and that he would be raised from the dead, Martha and Mary and those around them were offended and angry at Jesus. They knew that Jesus could of healed Lazarus while he was still alive and wanted Jesus to drop everything, rush over and save Lazarus, and when He did not give them the special treatment that thought they deserved, they were mortified. I believe their attitude and lack of faith grieved Jesus so much that He broke down and wept. The Lord is very tender toward our relationship with Him and He deeply wants us to trust Him and to take Him at His Word. When a mature believer fails to do that it grieves the heart of God.
How many Christians are offended at God today because He did not handle things the way that they wanted Him to?
The Lord has given us His Word that by His stripes we have been healed, that He would provide all of our needs according to His riches in glory and that Jesus became so very poor, so that we would become rich and bountifully supplied, but when those promises are not delivered on our time table and how we want Him to do it, many become offended, angry and accuse the Lord of breaking His Word. To this day that kind of attitude grieves the Holy Spirit and brings Him to tears.
Family, trusting Jesus is taking Him at His Word. Trusting Jesus is letting Him do things in His timing and in His way. If you have to get fired before you get a promotion, if you have to lose what you have before you gain what you have been promised, and if you have to go backwards before you move forward, then so be it. God is not a man that He should lie and He has exalted His Word above His Name… Has He not said it, will He not do it? Just keep trusting, keep standing on His Word, stay excited and stay full of faith, your promise will indeed come in His perfect timing and in such a way that it will bring the most glory to God.
Sometimes the Lord parts the water in an instant as He did with Moses, and sometimes He leads us to build an ark that will take us many years. (It took Noah up to 100 years to build the ark.) Whatever path the Lord has us on, He will bring every promise to pass as long as we stay in faith and as long as we do not get offended, discouraged or angry and walk away – Selah!
