Jesus wept.
At the grave of Lazarus, two sisters and a crowd of mourners stand in tears, and Jesus is there among them. Two words record what He did, and they raise the question every grieving person asks: does God feel what I feel?
The chapter divisions and verse numbers in our Bibles were added by people, not by the writers. One commentator notes this, then draws attention to what happened here.
Everyone knows that the verses of our Bible are a human arrangement. Yet who can doubt that the Spirit of God guided the one who made it, in putting these two words into a verse of their own! They should stand alone, because they open a window into the very depths of the Lord's heart. They have comforted mourners in every age. They will keep comforting His people until God Himself wipes away every tear from their eyes.
Mary was weeping. What He did next shows how He treats sorrow in His own people.
The sight of human tears drew a groan from the loving, sympathising heart of the Son of God. Let all mourners remember this. Jesus did not rebuke Mary for weeping. He did not make light of her sorrow. He did not tell her she ought not to feel, that she ought to be above anything of that sort. No — that would not be like Him. Some heartless people may talk that way, but He knew better. He was the Son of God, but He was also a real man. So He felt as a man ought to feel. He knew what a person feels when passing through the dark valley of tears.
Jesus was about to raise Lazarus. So the tears had another cause.
The sisters had reason to weep for the loss of their brother. But the Lord had no need to weep for a man He was about to raise. It was not for the dead He wept, but for the living — not for the loss of Lazarus, but for the sorrow of Mary and Martha. In a little while, love will raise Lazarus, but first love will weep with Martha and Mary. He broke His heart to bind up our hearts, and shed His tears to dry our tears.
Others widen the circle further, past the two sisters to everyone death has ever touched.
These tears of the Saviour were deep sympathy for the whole human race. Death crushed it with a weight it could not lift. He felt for these tested souls too.
Watching Him cry, the crowd said He must have loved Lazarus. Commentators differ on whether they were right. Some say His plan to raise Lazarus rules that out. Others place it beside His sympathy for the sisters.
They are truly tears of sympathy with the grieving sisters in their great sorrow. There is truth in what the Jews said: "See how He loved him!" What deep comfort the tears of Jesus have brought to His own people in times of loss.
He knew He was about to raise Lazarus. He could have done it without a tear. He did not.
He wept as He was reaching the grave of Lazarus, though He knew He carried life for the dead. He who had just said, "I am the resurrection and the life," wept. Divine power left His human feelings free to run their full course.
The original word for weeping here is precise. It marks out one kind of tears from another.
The word here means shedding silent tears. It is not the word for loud wailing that Luke 19:41 uses. But those silent tears of Jesus have moved the hearts of grieving believers for two thousand years.
That is why sorrow is not wasted on a believer.
"God comforts the downcast." If we were never downcast, we would never know that precious care of His. A stoic does not need the comfort of God. It is worth having a broken heart to have it bound up by our most merciful High Priest.
- Tears, first. Before power raised Lazarus, love wept with the sisters — He shed His tears to dry theirs.
- Tears, real. He was a real man, and He felt as a man ought to feel; He never told Mary she should be above weeping.
- Tears, wide. They reached past one grave to a whole race crushed under a weight it could not lift.
- Tears, free. Divine power did not silence human sympathy; the One who said "I am the resurrection and the life" still wept.
- Tears, lasting. Silent tears have comforted mourners for two thousand years. A broken heart is worth having, if He is the one who binds it up.
The Jews therefore said, Behold how he loved him!
The crowd standing at the grave watches Jesus in tears and reaches a verdict about His heart. Their words are warm, and in one sense they are right. Yet commentators differ over what those tears were for.
The people had evidence for what they said. Both the sisters and John knew of that love. The crowd was not guessing.
Some who saw the tears of Jesus said, "See how He loved him" (John 11:36). This was surely true, as the sisters knew (John 11:3) and as John knew (John 11:5). The tears expressed the love of Jesus for Lazarus. They also showed that He was not unfeeling toward the cruel wounds death had made in the hearts of the sisters of Bethany.
Lazarus was about to walk out of the tomb. So the weeping must have had another object.
The Jews, standing around the grave, misread the tears. They say, "See how He loved him!" The Lord did love Lazarus, but the tears were not the expression of His love for Lazarus. The sisters may weep for the loss of their brother. But there was no need for the Lord to weep for one He was about to raise. He did not weep for the dead but for the living — not for the loss of Lazarus, but for the sorrow of Mary and Martha. In a little while love will raise Lazarus, but first love will weep with Martha and Mary. He broke His heart to bind up our hearts, and shed His tears to dry our tears.
One writer goes further. He reads the tears as sympathy for everyone death has crushed, and denies they came from affection for Lazarus.
These tears of the Saviour were deep sympathy for the human race, crushed under the weight of death and unable to lift itself out. They were sympathy for these tested souls too. The Jews thought the tears of Jesus came from His affection for Lazarus: "See how He loved him!" they say. That was very natural, but what He was about to do forbids us to hold such a thought.
Who you believe the weeper to be changes what the tears mean. A bystander sees a grieving friend. Faith sees the mighty God about to raise the dead.
Even the Jews could not help saying, "See how He loved him!" What would they have thought if they had known He was just about to raise the dead man? ... Only faith in the glory of His Person reads the depth of His love rightly, and values it in its measure. "Jesus wept." These words mean one thing to someone who sees only a man. They mean far more to someone who knows Him as the mighty God, the only-begotten Son! Even a believer cannot fail to own His love here. But how much greater that love becomes when we see His divine dignity, and know that He was about to act in the power of divine life above death!
Their admiration did not stop there. Having praised the love, the crowd went on to ask why it had not acted sooner.
His tears told the Jews how Jesus loved Lazarus. Like the sisters, they could not understand why He had not kept him from dying. They reasoned in a human, worldly way. Love that showed such sympathy, they thought, might have used its power at the start to heal the sick man. But perfect wisdom and unfathomable love had arranged the circumstances. The Father was directing and the Son was obeying. Everything was working together for good — that is, for the glory of God.
The onlookers spoke of this love as something in the past. One writer points out that the New Testament refuses to leave it there.
John 11:36, "See how He loved him." While we can speak of His love in the past tense, how good to know it is a love that continues. John, in Revelation 1:5, spoke of the love of Christ as a reality that never stops. About our sins he used the past tense: "has freed us from our sins." But about the love that led Him to do that cleansing work once for all, he wrote, "To Him who loves us." Praise His Name, He loves and will go on loving His own.
- Seen — The crowd was right as far as it went. The tears showed love, and Jesus was not unfeeling toward hearts wounded by death.
- Misread — Commentators differ on the source of the tears. Some say they expressed love for Lazarus. Others say He had no reason to weep for a man He was about to raise. He wept for the living, and for a race crushed under death.
- Measured — Only faith in who He is can measure that love. The words "Jesus wept" mean one thing to someone who sees a man. They mean far more to someone who sees the only-begotten Son.
- Questioned — Admiration slid into complaint. Why had He not kept him from dying? That was human reasoning. All the while the Father was directing and the Son obeying, for the glory of God.
- Continuing — Their verb was past tense; Scripture keeps it present. He loves and goes on loving His own.