Jesus Wept

Scripture: John 11:28-37 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

28 Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” 29 So Mary immediately went to him. 30 Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. 31 When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. 32 When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Then Jesus wept. 36 The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” 37 But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?” (John 11:28-37 NLT)

Did Jesus weep in sorrow over the death of Lazarus? Jesus already knew what he was going to do! Jesus wept in empathy with Mary and Martha, because he knew and that they had just experienced the death of their brother, and disappointment was deep, pain was sharp, and hope was distant.

Let’s know this about God: God loves us and feels our joys and sorrows. God, in Jesus, experienced the entire range of our emotions. Jesus felt Mary’s pain and sorrow. He felt it so strongly and deeply that anger welled up within him at the pain and loss and hurt and sorrow they and we experience. He felt it so strongly and deeply that he was overwhelmed with the feelings they were experiencing and he openly wept with them and for them. God will not be known by us merely at an intellectual level. God will be known by us as he knows us: in our hopes and dreams, our successes and failures, our wins and our losses, our joys and our sorrows. God weeps with us in our sorrows and laughs with us in our joys! Oh, what a wonderful God!

14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. (Hebrews 4:14-16 NLT)

Prayer:

Father, Thank you for understanding how it feels. Thank you that Jesus wept. Amen.