Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick” (John 11:1). Upon hearing, Jesus told his disciples, “This sickness will not end in death,” but for “God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (11:4).
Two days passed. When Martha heard Jesus was coming, she hurried to meet Him.
“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world” (John 11:21-17).
Martha ran back to get Mary.
When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept (John 11:32:35).
Jesus shed tears over the grief and death of a brother and friend. Not only in this instance but many times, the heart of Jesus overflowed with compassion.
Jesus Wept Out of Compassion
In Luke’s gospel, chapter 7, a dead person was being carried out to a cemetery, the only son of his mother, surrounded by a large crowd of mourners. “When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry” (7:13, emphasis added). Jesus raised the dead boy and lovingly gave him back to his mother.
In Matthew’s gospel, chapter 15, Jesus fed four thousand people with a few loaves and fish. He told his disciples, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way” (15:32, emphasis added).
When Jesus saw enormous crowds following him, “He had compassion on them” and healed their sick (Matthew 14:14).
The compassion of Jesus connected Him with suffering and pain. His tears showed His humanness, but there was more in being “deeply moved in spirit and troubled.”
Jesus Wept Over Sin
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lived perfectly with God until the Deceiver came and ushered in disbelief (Genesis 3:1).
[My paraphrase] “Eve, you have to try this. It’s delicious. Here, take a bite. And, look, I’m still alive. I didn’t die, like God said I would.”
God had commanded, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:16,17).
Adam and Eve chose to ignore and reject what God said; with that rejection, sin entered. They were driven from Eden and carried sin’s consequences, spiritual and physical death (Romans 5:12).
The sin of Adam and Eve’s fall wove through all of humanity right into the “deeply moved and troubled” heart of Jesus, the only One who could defeat the curse of sin.
“Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb” (John 11:38).
Jesus commanded that the stone be taken away, “Lazarus, come out!” Take off the grave clothes and let him go” (11:43,44). Someone said if Jesus didn’t identify Lazarus by name when calling him out of the tomb, all the dead would have come out of their graves to life again!
The wonder of those who saw could hardly believe it — a dead man for four days now alive! Tears of astonishment! Shock! Awe! And many believed in Jesus (11:45).
Some, however, did not.
Jesus Wept Over Their Unbelief
Despite this unbelievable miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, many Jews still didn’t believe, as Jesus warned through a parable in Luke 16, “They will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” (16:31).
The unbelievers went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. From that day, the religious leaders looked for ways to kill Jesus.
At the Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, Jesus wept over their rejection as Savior “because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you” (Luke 19:44, emphasis added).
Greg Laurie highlights just how heart-breaking unbelief was to Jesus as he had his triumphant entry:
(Transcript of the video above, edited for readability)
“Why did Jesus weep? He went because his ministry was almost overtime, was short, and by and large, he had been rejected. He had healed their sick. He had raised their dead. He had cleansed their lepers. He had fed their hungry. He forgave their sins, and yet he remained mostly alone and rejected. Scripture says he came unto his own and his own received him.
Not only that, but being God and having omniscience, all knowledge, he knew that one of his own handpicked disciples, Judas would betray him. He knew another would deny him, Simon Peter. He knew that Caiaphas, the high priest, would conspire with Pilate, the Roman governor, to bring about his death. He knew these fickle people saying ‘Hosanna’ would soon be saying, ‘Crucify him!’ But most of all, he knew their future, the future of Jerusalem, and it wasn’t pretty looking ahead. He saw the destruction that would come upon Jerusalem in 40 years, because we know, looking back now, historically, in 70 AD, the Roman legions came in, led by Titus and after a siege of 143 days killed 600,000 Jews and took thousands captive.
The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that during that time, rivers of blood flowed to the gates of this city as the beloved temple was burned to the ground because the gold that was in the temple melted into the crevices of the rocks. As a result of the fire, it was taken down stone by stone, fulfilling to a T the prediction of Jesus.
He wept. He wept because he was being rejected. This breaks his heart and it still does. Unbelief and rejection break God's heart. Why? Because he knows the consequences. Yes, the Lord placed the planets in orbit. He made the light shine out of the darkness. But when the door of the human heart is shut, he refuses to enter. Forcibly. He will only knock wanting to gain minutes, but when he is denied, knowing the repercussions that will follow, his heart is broken.”
(Video first published on Christianity.com on July 2, 2010)
Everything Jesus did, the teachings, the miracles, and signs, were to bring people to believe in Him. Four days before seeing Mary and Martha, Jesus told his disciples, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake, I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe (John 11:14,15, emphasis added).
At the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus prayed, “For the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me” (11:42, emphasis added).
Jesus Wept Over His Crucifixion
Jesus was divine, yet human. Nails. Pierced flesh. Pain. Mocking. Humiliation. Rejection. Ridicule. Falsely accused. Beaten. Agony.
What drove Jesus to face this horrific, excruciating death? His compassion and love, His anger over sin, and the unbelief of His people led Him to the cross — the reason He came.
The night before the crucifixion, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus wept. “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44).
But when Jesus said, “It is finished,” death gave way to life! “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55).
Jesus lived life as we do, in human flesh. He is “able to empathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15). He understands and weeps with us in our sufferings, and “He always lives to intercede” for us. (Hebrews 7:25).
How wonderful when others pray for us, or we pray for them but think how powerful it is that the Victorious Jesus prays for us.
This earthly life's grief, sorrow, pain, and suffering will not have a place in eternity. God will wipe away “every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death, mourning, crying, or pain” (Revelation 21:4).
At the tomb of Lazarus, the Jews saw the tears of Jesus, “See how He loved him.” (11:36). How much more do we see the tears of Jesus and understand his deep compassion and love for believers who are suffering and for those who are yet to believe.
Those tears, revealing the humanness and divinity of Jesus, are “that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).
Tears are a language God understands.
For further reading:
What Is the Meaning and Significance of 'Jesus Wept'?
Why Are We to Weep for Those Who Weep?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Noppharat05081977
