TITLE: JESUS WEPT
SCRIPTURE: ST. JOHN 11:35
This is the shortest verse in the Bible -- “JESUS WEPT.” But for all its grammatical simplicity, it’s packed with unfathomable complexity. No book has a higher Christology, the study of Christ, than the Gospel of John. His persistent focus on divinity is evident throughout --
• Instead of being born to Mary - Christ existed eternally
• Upon meeting someone for the first time - He knows their thoughts before they do
• Face-to-face with his execution - He is the one in control
• On the cross his life isn’t taken - He freely gives it away
• Although he located in time and space - Christ hovers just above the fray in his perfection, his feet never quite touching the ground of embodied experience
Except found here in this 11th Chapter, at the zenith of his narrative, John tells of an account with an uncharacteristically low Christology. Jesus has received word one of his best friends is nearing the end. You would think as any good friend would do that Jesus would rush to the bedside of his good friend. But the Bible makes it clear that he stayed still for a few days.
By the time he does arrive in Bethany a few days later, Mary and Martha meet him outside the cemetery with the tragic news, Lazarus is dead.
• Through the iron gates and past the surrounding headstones adorned with plastic bouquets, down to where the green tent with all the chairs beneath, is set up over a hole in the ground, Jesus falls to his knees overcome with the loss
• In the shortest and, arguably, most profound verse in scripture, JESUS WEPT
• With such emphasis on Christ everywhere else, why does John include this narrative about Jesus in his Gospel?
Have you ever stopped to wonder what could possibly bring tears to the eyes of God? Can you imagine the face of Jesus, moist with his own tears? Are they tears of weakness or of strength? Of fear or compassion? The Bible actually records three different times when Jesus cried, each time in a different place and for a different reason.
• Every single tear Jesus wiped from his cheek is meaningful and significant
• I would like for us to take a closer look at this occasion in the life of Christ and see just what it was that brought tears to the eyes of the Son of God!
Let me footnote here and remind us of the three occasions that we find our Savior shedding Tears.
• At the tomb - Jesus wept for a Hurting Family
• At Jerusalem - he wept for a Lost City
• In the Garden - He wept for a Cursed World
• The tears at the tomb were a small stream belonging to one Household
• The tears for Jerusalem were a river, belonging to an Entire Country
• And the tears in the Garden are an ocean, belonging to the Whole World
Jesus wept after speaking with Lazarus’s grieving sisters, Martha and Mary, and seeing all the mourners. That seems natural enough. Except that Jesus had come to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead. He knew that in a few short minutes all this weeping would turn to astonished joy, and then tearful laughter, and then worship.
• So, one would think that Jesus would be confident, joyful calm in that storm of sorrow
• But he was “greatly troubled” and he wept
• Why?
One reason is simply the deep compassion that Jesus felt for those who were suffering. It is true that Jesus let Lazarus die.
• He delayed coming, and he did not speak healing from a distance like he did for the centurion’s servant
• He could have healed Lazarus by the REMOTE CONTROL OF HIS DIVINE POWER
• However, He did not
• His reasons were Good and Merciful and Glorious
• But this did not mean Jesus took the suffering it caused lightly
• LAMENTATIONS 3:33 - “FOR HE DOETH NOT AFFLICT WILLINGLY NOR GRIEVE THE CHILDREN OF MEN”
Even though Jesus always chooses what will ultimately bring his Father the most glory — and sometimes, as in Lazarus’s case, it requires affliction and grief — He does not take delight in the affliction and grief itself. No, Jesus is sympathetic. In Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus we get a glimpse of how the Father feels over the affliction and grief his children experience.
This verse may be the shortest verse in the bible, but it speaks volumes. Over the years this little verse has stirred more than a little curiosity.
• People wonder why exactly Jesus wept
• Some think it was simply because his friend Lazarus was dead
• That’s possible
• After all, Jesus was fully human and experienced grief just like we do
• On the other hand, Jesus had already told Martha that he planned on resurrecting Lazarus, so I really don’t think that’s it
The key to unlocking VS. 35 is found in VS. 33 - “WHEN JESUS THEREFORE SAW HER WEEPING, AND THE JEWS ALSO WEEPING WHICH CAME WITH HER, HE GROANED IN THE SPIRIT, AND WAS TROUBLED.”
• It wasn’t the death of his friend that pained Jesus
• Rather it was the tears on Mary’s face that brought tears to Christ’s
• When Jesus saw that look of sorrow and grief in Mary’s eyes and on the faces of those who were with her, he was overwhelmed with emotion
• He sympathized with their pain and he sympathizes with yours too
There is a wonderful passage of scripture found in HEBREWS 4:15 and I am so glad that God saw fit to give it to us to read and understand. It says -- “FOR WE HAVE NOT AN HIGH PRIEST WHICH CANNOT BE TOUCHED WITH THE FEELING OF OUR INFIRMITIES; BUT WAS IN ALL POINTS TEMPTED LIKE AS WE ARE, YET WITHOUT SIN.” This verse speaks to me that Jesus understands our pain.
• He knows every Scrape
• He knows every Scar
• He knows every Surgery
• He knows every Pain
• He knows every Problem
• He knows every Prognosis
• He knows every Heartbreak
• He knows every Headache
• He knows every Hardship
Our High Priest, can be touched. It means that He is moved deeply, by the things we go through. Whether our theology tells us so or not, He is saying that He understands; He’s been there. Perhaps, we need to recall, that we know almost nothing about the life of Christ, before he began his ministry.
• We know how He was born
• How it was prophesied in the Old Testament
• His parents flight to Egypt
• Him teaching in the Temple as a young boy
• However, we actually know very little about the lowly son, of the carpenter
We don’t know how he really grew up.
• We don’t really know anything about His playmates
• What kind of food He liked the best
• What some of His favorite hobbies were
• He was a toddler like we were
• A teenager in the same respect
• And a young man, who obviously had the same emotions and feelings we have all had
• I have felt led to say before, that we need to let Jesus be the human person He was
• Without that, we may say it, but we don’t really relate to how much He understands us; all, of our experiences
Jesus knew that he was going to raise Lazarus. still, he gave way to tears, moved by his deep love and compassion for his friends.
• Likewise, our empathy may move us to “weep with people who weep”
• Expressing such grief does not indicate that a person lacks faith in the resurrection hope
• I THESSALONIANS 4:13 “…WE DO NOT SORROW, EVEN AS OTHERS WHICH HAVE NO HOPE.”
• How appropriate, then, that Jesus set an example of showing sympathy for the bereaved by sincerely shedding tears even though he was about to raise Lazarus
Yes, my brothers and sisters – JESUS WEPT. Weeping was the cost that he was about to pay to purchase not only Lazarus’s short-term resurrection, but his everlasting life.
• Lazarus’s resurrection would look and be experienced by Lazarus and everyone else as a gift of Grace
• But, oh, it was not free
• Jesus was going to die a horrific death to purchase it
It is evident to me this morning that this two-word verse highlights the fact the writer wants us to pause here for a moment.
• This weeping was not something to gloss over or ignore
• It was intentional and packed with meaning
When you genuinely care about someone, when they hurt, you hurt. Jesus’ weeping here shows His true care and love for us. God never takes our pain lightly even if He knows He will restore everything we have lost. Like a good Father, He does not want to see us in pain, even if He knows that pain will lead to a greater good. One of the greatest gifts we can give someone who is hurting is our presence and sharing in their suffering.
There is a Swedish Proverb that says -- “shared joy is a double joy. shared sorrow is half sorrow.”
• Jesus wanted to take on their pain, reminding us that no matter what hurts or pains we face in life, Jesus is right here with us
• He’s not afraid to meet us in our despair and darkness
• He’s the first one to meet us in our valleys
• Jesus wept because those He loved wept
Jesus wept was because of the lack of faith he saw around him. When Jesus first told His disciples they would head back to Judea, they reminded Him that the last time He was in Judea He was almost stoned. They were operating in fear and not faith. Jesus intentionally waited to go to Lazarus to bring God glory once Lazarus was raised from the dead. Still, the disciples planned to go to Judea with Jesus to die with him.
When Jesus arrives, he is encountered by the sisters of Lazarus who has now been dead four days. Mary and Martha warned Jesus that it’s too late. Lazarus had been dead far too long. There is no way, they believed, he can come back to life. When Jesus told Martha that He would still raise her brother, she reasoned that she knew Lazarus would rise again in the last days during the resurrection and Jesus had to reminder her - ‘I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE: HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE: AND WHOSOEVER LIVETH AND BELIEVETH IN ME SHALL NEVER DIE. BELIEVEST THOU THIS?’
Martha believed that her brother Lazarus would rise one day, just not today. Jesus wanted the people to believe in Him. Still, they seemed to be focused on whether Jesus got to Judea on time. They were concerned with Jesus’ timing being too late as well as the fact that Lazarus was probably starting to smell.
Jesus was grieved because all the answers to their needs were right in front of them, yet they seemed to miss it. They seemed to miss the Power of Jesus. This lack of faith made Jesus weep because what he truly wants from us is our faith. HEBREWS 11:6 “AND WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE HIM: FOR HE THAT COMETH TO GOD MUST BELIEVE THAT HE IS, AND THAT HE IS A RWARDER OF THEM THAT DILIGENTLY SEEK HIM.”
• There were not many people who impressed Jesus
• But the few who did all had one thing in common - a bold faith in Him
• Jesus wants us to believe in Him – not to make Himself feel better – but because He knows it’s our faith that leads to our SALVATION - PEACE - JOY that we can only find in Him
ISAIAH 53:3 “…A MAN OF SORROWS, AND ACQUAINTED WITH GRIEF….” Yes, Jesus was a man of sorrows, but not his own. VS. 4 “SURELY HE HATH BORNED OUR GRIEFS, AND CARRIED OUR SORROWS….”
• Because his love is great, he made our pains his own
• It’s not inherently impressive to have a king that cries
• We don’t want to see the President of our nation cry during times of national calamity
• But it is a great comfort to have a Sovereign who not only knows our frame and what is in us, but also shares in our flesh and blood
God himself has taken on our humanity in that of Jesus Christ. And with it, our feelings. And with them, even our sorrows. We are finite and frail. But God gave us mighty emotions --
• We Celebrate
• We Grieve
• We Rejoice
• We Weep
• And we do so with Jesus as one of us
It was John Calvin who wrote -- CHRIST HAS PUT ON OUR FEELINGS ALONG WITH OUR FLESH. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus clearly manifests human emotions.
• When he heard the centurion’s words of faith, “He Marveled”
• He says in Gethsemane that his “SOUL IS VERY SORROWFUL, EVEN TO DEATH”
• HEBREWS 5:7 says he prayed “WITH LOUD CRIES AND TEARS”
Jesus’s weeping comes not from despair and resignation.
• These are not the tears of one who has realized himself powerless and is ready to give up
• Rather, these are the tears of mingled affection and anger, leading to action
• He will raise Lazarus
This death will be overcome, but that doesn’t mean it will not be mourned. And his own death will be the great overcoming, but it will not be without Excruciating Pain.
• He will walk through the greatest of sorrows
• He will cry, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”
• When Lazarus has been raised, he will return to the Calvary road for his final showdown with Sin and Death
JESUS WEPT. And in these tears, we see that God does not stand aloof to the pains of our existence.
• He has drawn near
• He has taken our flesh and blood
• He has not called us to a humanity that he himself was unwilling to take
• We have not been abandoned to a world into which he was unwilling to enter
• We suffer no pain he was unwilling to bear
• We have no grief he was unwilling to carry
JESUS WEPT. He did not consider himself above our agonies, but emptied himself of privilege by taking our form, being born in our likeness. Crying is common in this world. It does little good to ask the reason for it.
• Earth is what one might call a weeping planet
• Laughter can be heard here and there
• But by and large, weeping predominates
• With maturity the sound and reason for crying changes
• But never does it stop
• All infants do it everywhere — even in public
• By adulthood most crying is done alone and in the dark
• Weeping, for babies, is a sign of health and evidence that they are alive
• Isn’t this a chilling omen?
• Not laughter but tears are the life sign
• It leaves weeping and being synonyms
• God is life, therefore God weeps
• You have life, therefore you weep
• We have new life in Christ, therefore He weeps with us
If Jesus is God’s presence here on earth, it is telling that before he raised his good friend Lazarus from the dead - before he did anything - JESUS WEPT.
• The good news of the Gospel is that no one stays in the tomb forever
• The good news is that while we are in there we are not alone
• God weeps with us
Take a look around, at the faces and arms and bodies of those sitting next to you.
• God has brought us together – with all our gifts and all our flaws
• God moves and acts through us
• We are the Burning Bush
• We are the Pillar of Fire
• We are the rock that brings forth water for the thirsty
• We are the hope of the resurrection - living, breathing proof that love brings new life where it once was lost
--The very heart of the Christian message is that the happy God so loved our weeping world that he gave his own Son to weep with us, all the way to the place of utter forsakenness, that whosoever believes in him will not weep forever, but have everlasting joy
--And one day, when he wipes away our every tear, it is not because he is suppressing our sadness
--The one who wipes away our tears has shed his own. And he has triumphed
--This is our Gospel in two words -- JESUS WEPT
--REVELATION 21:4 “AND GOD SHALL WIPE AWAY ALL TEARS FROM THEIR EYES; AND THERE SHALL BE NO MORE DEATH, NEITHER SORROW, NOR CRYING, NEITHER SHALL THERE BE ANY MORE PAIN: FOR THE FORMER THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY?
