The Tears Of Jesus Series

The Tears of Jesus

by Pastor Simon Measures

July 6th 2025

Preface

This message was preached at Harvest Field Church, Cheltenham on July 6th 2025, in the days immediately following the graveside committal and memorial celebration service for my wife, Ruth, who passed away quite suddenly. It was a time of deep emotion and spiritual reflection, both personally and within the church.

The sermon draws upon the experience of grief, the comfort of Christ, and the importance of emotional connection in Christian life. It was given not from a place of theory but from personal experience of bereavement and healing.

Editorial Note

This text is a lightly edited transcript of a sermon preached by Pastor Simon Measures at Harvest Field Church, Cheltenham on July 6th 2025. It has been transposed from its original spoken form with great care to preserve the immediacy, spontaneity, and emotional resonance of the live presentation. While the flow and tone of Pastor Simon's spoken voice have been maintained, minor edits have been made for clarity, coherence, and readability.

Introduction: A Familiar Story with Fresh Meaning

Praise God!

Over the last couple of months, we’ve been regularly looking at the story of the death of Lazarus - or what looked like the death of Lazarus - and that powerful exchange between Martha and Jesus. And we’ve received great comfort from it, particularly in the way Jesus declared to Martha:

“I am the resurrection and the life.

He that believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And he that lives and believes in me shall not die.”

Praise God!

Today, I want to pick up on that story again, but look at a different part - one that I believe is especially meaningful to our lives right now. We’ll be reading from John chapter 11, verses 32 to 36.

Before I read those verses, let me remind you briefly what takes place.

To all intents and purposes, Lazarus was dead, and Jesus had delayed his arrival. Then Jesus has this amazing conversation with Martha and says - paraphrased - “Things are going to change. This is going to turn around.” And indeed, Jesus called Lazarus forth from the grave, and he lived.

Jesus Wept: Sharing in Our Sorrows

Now, just before that miracle takes place, we get this moment:

“Then when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’

Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

And he said, ‘Where have you laid him?’

They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’

Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him.’”

I want to focus on that very simple statement: Jesus wept.

It’s talking about the tears of Jesus. He shed tears.

Now, you can talk a lot about why Jesus wept - but I think, to do that, is to miss the point. In fact, I think no matter how much you try to explain it, there isn’t enough detail in the passage to say exactly why He wept. But the point being made by John, the Gospel writer, is this: He did weep.

He shed tears. Jesus was visibly emotional. Jesus was moved by what He was witnessing. He joined His tears to the tears of Mary and those around her.

Divinity and Humanity in One Moment

One of the significant things here is that Jesus knew this situation was going to be turned around. He didn’t let His spiritual knowledge of what was coming get in the way - or detach Him from - the emotional suffering of those around Him.

In this moment, we see something beautiful and profound in the life of Christ: both His divinity and His humanity. Here is Jesus, the Christ, about to raise Lazarus from the dead. But here also is Jesus, one of us.

This is such an important part of the story of Jesus Christ. And John, the Gospel writer, makes this central. He writes at the beginning of his Gospel:

“The Word became flesh and walked among us.”

The Word - that’s the second person of the Godhead, God the Son. He came and walked among us as one of us. Flesh and blood. He had feelings. He had emotions. And He allowed His emotions to connect with those of Martha and the others.

He shed tears.

Tears on the Lane: A Personal Encounter

Many of us have been shedding tears in recent weeks - or is it months?

Yesterday afternoon, we were driving home and talking about a particular singer. I didn’t recognise the name, so we put the song on. It came on as Country Western - okay, very nice.