“Jesus wept” (John 11:35)

John 11:32-44

 

Pastor Tom Johnson,

November 11, 2015
“Jesus began to weep.” In the New Testament it is two words: “Jesus wept.” It is one of the shortest verses in the Bible. It is a small detail in the story of Jesus’ ministry with profound implications. “Jesus wept.” Literally “Jesus teared.” Or as we might say in English, “Jesus burst into tears.” Jesus wept. What might cause his eyes to well up with tears and spill out over his cheekbones into his beard? His good friend Lazarus is dead. And yet, it isn’t over Lazarus’ death that Jesus weeps but when he sees Mary and the others weeping for their loss. It is then that “he becomes greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” Jesus wept because he empathizes with Mary, Martha, their family, and their friends. Their father and friend had been taken away. Jesus wept because that is the human thing to do. No other creatures weep like we humans do. Jesus wept because of the incarnation—the eternal Son of God became flesh. Jesus of Nazareth’s humanity is fully intact. It makes him a great High Priest “who has passed through the heavens” and is able to sympathize with our infirmities (Heb 4). Jesus wept because Mary, Martha their friends’ tears will calling out for compassion and consolation. When we weep our tears send the message to those around us that we have reached the limit and our hearts have been broken.  Jesus wept for the living. His tears sent the message to Lazarus’ family and friends that he quite literally felt their pain. Some suggest that Jesus wept also for the toll death has on all humanity. He wept for the universal tragedy of loss of life. He wept for the particular loss of the individual Lazarus who was freshly buried. Jesus wept instead of giving platitudes and clichés like, “He’s in a better place.” Or, even more appropriately, “Look at what I’m about to do.” Jesus wept to identify with us. His tears wash away any doubt that our God is One who cares. Light reflects more brightly on a cheek that is drenched in salty tears.

Jesus wept for the same reason you and I shed tears. The body is trying to return to an equilibrium since it overwhelmed with emotional and spiritual pain. Scientists have even detected more stress hormones in tears of grief than normal eye-moistening and lubricating tears. Jesus wept because he bore the full weight of sin and death. Jesus wept to teach us to weep—that grown men and women indeed do cry. It is a call for us to share our burdens with one another. Our tears invite people around us into our invisible pain, loss, and grief. We weep to strengthen the bonds of family and friends and the Body of Christ.  Jesus wept to show us the path of compassion and mercy. Like Adam and Eve before the fall, he calls us to be naked and unashamed—to be transparent about our weakness, our humanity, and our common struggle in life and death.

Jesus wept. His tears are in contrast to our dry tear ducts. Our lack of weeping may reveal our apathy and calloused hearts. Unlike Jesus, we have not adequately mourned the ravaging effects of evil, death, and our own sinfulness. We sometimes deny ourselves the opportunity to share the human struggle with those around us and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus wept to show the adequacy of praying in groans too deep for words. God grieves. The Holy Spirit grieves. The Son of God weeps. Scripture says that even creation itself groans for redemption. And so our Creator is able to receive our tears as prayer—pleas for mercy, grace, and healing without well-articulated words.

Jesus wept to baptize us into the path of life and immerse us into the death of death. He is the forerunner who leads us. He quietly and tearfully assures us that we can reach out with our tears and care even though we may be at a loss for words. Jesus wept. His tears were not for Lazarus but for those of us who are left behind to struggle with our losses. Jesus wept even though he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. We can weep even though we know there is the resurrection of the dead and a company of the living that no one can number.

Jesus wept to raise the spirits and hopes of those around him. Jesus wept to remind us that he gives us victory through the baptism of his death. Jesus wept to foreshadow his anguish in the garden on the night he will be betrayed when “his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.” Jesus wept. Jesus shed his tears because he would soon shed his blood. His tears remind us of his love for us and the joy set before him. Jesus wept to reassure us that our forgiveness flows out of his mercy and grace. Jesus wept because there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” Jesus weeps until he raises Lazarus from the dead. He gives us permission to burst into tears even though we know one day we will be raised to eternal joy—tears now—until our laughing and dancing are reborn.


Jesus wept
Not for Lazarus
But for us
His friends and family
And sin and death’s
Treachery.

Jesus wept
Not for the dead
But for the living
Whose hearts are broken
And the faithful
Who need mercy’s token.

Jesus wept
Not for the end
But the promise
Of our beginning Jesus kept
For our life and resurrection
Jesus wept.