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Hello and welcome to another five good minutes where I answer your theological questions in five minutes or less. Today’s question is why did Jesus weep? In John chapter 11 we are told that Jesus learns that his friend Lazarus is sick. Now Jesus has healed many people, but instead of leaving to go right away to where Lazarus was to heal him, Jesus stays where he is and lets Lazarus die.
When Jesus arrives in the town four days after Lazarus’s death, he of course is greeted by the sisters Mary and Martha, who are also his friends. They were very distraught and they had said things like, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Well, Jesus tells Martha first, “Well, your brother will rise again.” Then he sees Mary, and Mary is also distraught, but something else happens when he talks to Mary.
It says here in verse 33, as Mary is weeping, “When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
The question is this: why did Jesus weep? I mean, he just told Martha that he would be raised again. So why did Jesus weep even though he knew everything was going to be okay? Well, we don’t really need to speculate because the answer is found in the text itself. It says, “When he saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping,” that’s when he wept.
Did Jesus forget that he could heal Lazarus or that he could raise him from the dead? No. The reason Jesus wept is because he was greatly moved. Jesus cared deeply about people. We do not have a God who is distant from our pain. We do not have a God who is removed from our suffering.
Even though we want God to heal all our suffering and take away all of our troubles and cares, we know that God doesn’t always do that because he always has a reason not to, just as he had here for not healing Lazarus and letting him die. The reason is that he would raise Lazarus from the dead so that God would be glorified through him and many people would believe. This is exactly the reason Jesus gives for not healing Lazarus before.
This is just one instance in which we see Jesus weep. There are actually quite a few examples in the scriptures where we see how God, through Christ, displayed perfect humanity so that he could be touched with our sorrows yet without sin. Jesus prayed with passion. He was moved with compassion for other people. Jesus was not afraid to cry, neither is crying sinful.
I know sometimes men especially have a hard time letting their emotions show, like we don’t want people to think less of us or that we are a bunch of wimps. But if it was okay for Jesus to cry, amen, it’s okay for you too as well. For example, we’re told in Hebrews chapter 5, verse 7 that as he’s praying, “Lord, let this cup pass from me,” even though he knows that he would die and be raised again just like Lazarus, the writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 5:7, “In the days of his flesh,” that’s his humanity, “Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.”
God the Father heard his prayers. And how did Jesus pray even though he knew that if he died, he’d be raised again? With loud cries and tears. Or as we see in the gospel accounts, he sweat with great agony, he was sorrowful unto death as if he was sweating great drops of blood.
So why did Jesus weep? Well, it was more than one time in his life. He was showing perfect humanity in those tears. Secondly, he loved other people and was moved by their sorrow. What can you take from this?
You do not have a God who’s distant. You do not have a God who, through being God in human flesh, knows what it’s like to cry. And this should bring you great comfort. And this has been another five good minutes.