Jesus Wept?

People who know a little about the Bible know that John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the English Bible: “Jesus wept.” I was challenged by yesterday’s sermon to turn it into a question, and the search for the answer will not be short. There are several opinions as to why Jesus wept; the one I will suggest as most likely will not be familiar to many.

The most obvious answer to why Jesus wept is that He was saddened by Lazarus’ death. This seems logical at first glance, but two things mitigate against it in my mind. First, Jesus had deliberately postponed His coming to Bethany so that Lazarus would die; He told His disciples this plainly (vv. 14-15). It doesn’t make sense to me that the Healer would cry over something He had orchestrated. The second problem I find in the sadness explanation is that Jesus also knew what he was about to do. It is clear what Jesus response to Martha meant when He said, “Your brother will rise again.” She thought Jesus was referring to the expected resurrection of the righteous; Jesus had earlier plans for her brother.

Another explanation for Jesus’ weeping is that He was following the cultural expectation of His day. The Greek word chosen by John means to literally shed tears, perhaps even silently. This was not the “weeping” of the culture. The Jews traditionally mourned their dead with vocal weeping; sometimes “professional” weepers would be hired to make the departed one seem more missed than he truly was. I doubt this was the case with Lazarus, as he was apparently well-known and loved. Although Jesus did care for Lazarus and his sisters, it seems unlikely to me that He would take this opportunity to do something merely for sake of appearance. In every other situation I can think of, Jesus was remarkably callous toward empty cultural practices.

Lazarus’ pain of death is another suggested cause for Jesus’ tears. Some think the human expression of grief was another signal of the dual nature of the Messiah: He would raise his friend, but he could shed a tear over the circumstance. Others suggest that Jesus was weeping over the unbelief of those close to Him who didn’t appear to grasp His ability to deal with the present situation. This last explanation comes closest to what I think was the reason Jesus wept.

There are two words in the Greek language of verse 33 that help me understand what Jesus was feeling. The first is sometimes translated “deeply moved;” the KJV says he “groaned.” The NLT gets the closest, I think, to the Greek word ἐμβριμάομαι saying, “a deep anger welled up within him.” We are told this “anger” was “in [his] spirit” and that it “troubled him.” The word for “troubled” is ταράσσω. It means stirred up; metaphorically it could mean disquieted or distressed in one’s mind or, in this case, One’s spirit. The deepest part of Jesus’ being was indignant to the point of distress; he wept.

Here is what I think was happening. Jesus wasn’t just there when the human race was begun in the Garden of Eden; He created it all. (John 1:1-4) He knew that death was not part of the perfect state of humans. He knew that a sinister force had tricked Adam and Eve into abandoning their complete dependence on their Creator and exchanging it for an independence that would lead to death. He also knew that the curse on creation was about to be undone by His work at Calvary. In other words, He knew the enemy, and He knew what had to be done to defeat him. He wept.

Because Jesus is the perfect representation of who God is, this tells us something astounding about God. He weeps. He cares that we are in a sin-stained, broken world that sometimes leaves sisters confused and grief-stricken over their dead brother. He cares when our relationships go south. He cares when evil persons visit violence on others. Even though He knows that ultimately He wins, He weeps.

Mary and Martha might have taken comfort in Jesus’ tears; they undoubtedly rejoiced in Lazarus’ resurrection. They probably forgot that Jesus seemed to discount their concern when He delayed his return. That is the lesson for us: it may seem like God hasn’t been there or didn’t care when we needed Him, but He is always there, and He always cares. It may be a comfort to know that in your painfully dark hour when you were crying out to Him, Jesus didn’t ignore you; Jesus wept.