Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
Jesus Wept
John 11:25-27; 33-36
Just two little words. In fact it’s the shortest verse in the Bible. That alone gets our attention. Just two little words. But it’s not just the brevity of the statement that gets our attention. It’s what it says. “Jesus wept.” Listen to the passage.
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” … 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. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
Jesus wept! Of course, people weep. You know that all too well today. People weep for all kinds of reasons. People weep for reasons that don’t seem to make sense. People weep when they’re happy or surprised or excited. But mostly people weep when they hurt, either for themselves or for someone else. Jesus wept!
The striking thing about the verse is that it is Jesus who weeps. If he were just an ordinary person, it wouldn’t surprise us. But that’s not how the Bible presents him. That’s not what he claimed about himself. This very book of the Bible begins with the powerful claim that Jesus was the very creator of the universe coming to live among men. He was the only begotten of the Heavenly Father (John 1:1-18). In the chapters of John that lead up to these two words, Jesus does many things. He teaches. He prays. He cleanses the temple. He calms a storm. He miraculously feeds a multitude with a handful of fish and loaves. He turns water into wine. He heals the sick, causes the blind to see, and the lame to walk. He does all kinds of powerful things. He does the things you would expect the Son of God to do. Here he does something totally different. Jesus wept!
This picture, much less this statement, surprises a lot of people. Some people think a deity ought to behave differently. Gods, so the popular image goes, sit far off, throw lightning bolts, or send angels. What kind of god would get so close to his subjects? What kind of god shows such emotion? What kind of god weeps?
The God of the Bible does. As startling as these two words are, they really shouldn’t surprise us. The Old Testament said that God’s anointed would be “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering” (Isa 53:3). The old hymn captures the image when it says, “Hallelujah, what a savior! Man of sorrows, what a name for the Son of God who came.” Jesus wept.
Why Jesus wept on this particular occasion may shed some important light on what we go through on days like this. It reminds us that the Lord who also weeps will see us through this “valley of the shadow of death.”
Jesus wept because someone had died. His good friend Lazarus was gone. Jesus had stayed in Lazarus’ home many times. They had broken bread together, laughed and joked, and maybe worked together. Lazarus and his sisters were like family to Jesus. Lazarus died. His sisters, Mary and Martha were grief stricken. Jesus wept.
Death is real. At times like this our mind plays tricks on us. We keep telling ourselves. It is all a dream. We will wake up to find that none of this was real. But it is real. We know that. We just wish it weren’t. All of us will someday fall victim to the Grim Reaper. Everyone we know and care about will die. We all know that. In some imaginary world we might think that since we know death is coming, it shouldn’t hurt as much. But that’s not true. Even a prolonged illness doesn’t prepare us. Death is an unwelcome surprise even when we know its coming.
That’s the strange thing about death and dying. It hurts because it so unnatural. Yes, I said unnatural. The Bible says God has put eternity in our hearts. Everything about the human spirit and soul yearns for life without end. The Bible tells us that the first humans were not made to die. But something happened at the beginning of time. In the Garden of Eden everything changed. Sin and death entered the perfect world that God had designed. Death is unnatural. But it is real. In this world as we experience it now, people die. Even friends of Jesus die. And Jesus wept.
There is another level to what happened that day. Jesus wept not just because someone died. Someone he loved and cared about died. Did you hear the reaction of those who saw Jesus weep? “See how he loved him!” People die all the time. Sometimes even the death of strangers can touch us. But when someone we love leaves us, it is an altogether different matter. The more we love the more it hurts. Jesus wept.
Jesus wept because people he cared about were hurting. If we were to read the entire story from John 11, we would find that Jesus brings Lazarus back to life. He undoubtedly knew what he was going to do from the beginning, but he still wept. He shed tears of compassion because Mary and Martha, the two grieving sisters of Lazarus were hurting.
We know about that. Sometimes we grieve for ourselves and our loss. Seldom do Christians really grieve for the loved one who has passed. We know the Bible says the death of a believer means reward and blessings. All the promises of God come to fulfillment in eternity for our departed loved one. We don’t grieve for them! But we hurt with one another. That’s as it should be.
The Bible tells us to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. A little girl was late getting home from school. When asked for an explanation, she told her mom that her friend had fallen and skinned her knee on the way home. “So I stayed and helped her,” the little girl explained. “What did you do to help her,” Mom asked. “I sat down and cried with her.” Sometimes we don’t weep for another. We weep with them. That is where we find strength. We find comfort together. Jesus wept.
But I think there is more to our story. Jesus wept because someone had died. Death is a reason enough to weep. But Jesus wept because someone he loved had died. That makes all the difference. But there is one more level to what happened. Jesus wept because he knows we can’t yet see what he sees. Here’s the real story line behind that shortest verse in the Bible.
Earlier in this passage Jesus had said to one of the sisters. “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Sometimes the answer to that is no. Some of us don’t believe that. Some of us weep because we are convinced that this life is all there is. No resurrection. No judgement to come. No heaven. No future for our loved one. No future for us with our loved one again. No wonder some people grieve so hard and so hopelessly. Jesus knows what some of us refuse to believe. He knows that as long as we are without faith we are without hope. “Come unto me all of you who are weak and heavy laden,” he invites, “ and I will give you rest.” When we don’t, he weeps for us. You need to know that life doesn’t have to stay this way. It is never too late for doubt to turn to faith. The Lord will welcome any that turn to him for forgiveness and hope.
For many of us, the answer to that question, “Do you believe this?” is yes. But believing doesn’t mean seeing. But even in our faith, we still can’t see all that is in store for us. The Lord knows this. The Bible itself says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9). Jesus wept in part because he knows that we can’t yet see what someday we will.
Someday we will see. Someday the veil will be lifted. Someday the dark clouds of sorrow will evaporate and we will see that those who die in Christ still live. Those who have trusted him to take away their sin are forgiven. Those whose lips declare “I believe that Jesus died for me and lives again” will themselves hear the voice of the Lord declare, “Welcome home, my child. I have been waiting for you.”
We look forward to that day. We look forward to the fulfillment of that promise, “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Ps 30:5).
Jesus wept. His tears were just as real as are ours. Someday ours will be gone. The Bible announced that future home of the redeemed. “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev 21:3-4).
Today a grand reunion is taking place in glory. Reba joins her family of faith who has gone before her. Someday we will join that celebration. Today we have other things to do. We have one another to support.
Until then we live in faith in the Lord weeps with us, in hope of that day when tears will turn to joy, all the while surrounded by the love of God who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death.
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College of the Bible, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
