There are two instances in the Bible where we read that Jesus wept. I find these passages to be very powerful because of what they tell us about Jesus’ humanity. The first time Jesus wept was in John 11:35 when Lazarus died, which simply states “Jesus wept.”
This is famously the shortest verse in the Bible and to me this is intentional, it is meant to draw attention to Jesus’ human side. The words were considered so important and profound in light of who Jesus was that they needed to stand apart.
Jesus had heard that His friend Lazarus was sick and near death so He agreed to go to see him, however He delayed His departure. Before Jesus made it to see him Lazarus died.1 When he was close to Bethany a weeping Martha ran out to meet Him, this is how the meeting went according to John 11:20-22:
20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
She was upset because Jesus did not get there in time to heal her brother, however Martha in her grief still showed some faith in Jesus by saying He could still do something. Jesus explained to her that Lazarus would rise from the dead. This is how that exchange went:
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
Martha had faith in Jesus, and believed Jesus could still do something, but she also had an incomplete understanding of resurrection and eternal life. In verse 27 she makes a full confession of faith.
She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Shortly after this exchange Mary came out to see Jesus and she also said to Him, “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”2Unlike Martha, she did not make a statement of faith. Both of these women’s statements, especially Mary’s, can be seen as being accusatory. Almost like they were blaming Jesus’ tardiness for the death of their brother.
It’s hard to read tone into the passage, but both of these women knew Jesus, and we know that Mary once sat at His feet as he taught her.3 We know they were close to Jesus and I think it’s reasonable to assume at some point Mary had made a confession of faith similar to the one Martha just made, but we don’t know that. So, yes, there may have been a hint of accusation in their statements, but it’s understandable in the state of mind they were in at that time of grief and bereavement.
Jesus saw the sisters weeping, and He looked around and saw all of the people who were there to console the sisters weeping also, and it is at this point that Jesus was “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled” 4 and Jesus wept.
Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead so why did He weep? Jesus was fully human and He saw Martha and Mary weeping, and He saw the crowd of people who were with Martha and Mary weeping. He saw their pain and He felt their grief at the loss of a loved one and it moved Him to the point of tears.
To me this is probably one of the greatest examples of Jesus’ compassion and empathy and it helps us to understand that Jesus was indeed fully human. I’ve written this before, but Jesus wasn’t God pretending to be man for a short time on earth, Jesus was a man and He felt all of the emotions you and I feel. This is a verse that reinforces that idea with me.
We’ve already seen that when Martha and Mary spoke with Jesus they might have had spoken in an accusatory manner, however there is no mistaking the feelings of some of the people in the crowd who had no faith in Jesus and began to ridicule Him:
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” John 11:37 (ESV)
It is most likely that Jesus had already raised a widow’s son5 and Jairus’ daughter6 by this point, so He probably was a little upset that these people still didn’t understand who He was. Still, in this moment He showed great patience and restraint even in the face of unbelief.
The next time we read that Jesus wept comes on the brink of His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. It is interesting to note that while John doesn’t give us the detail about Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem, that he does tell us that the reason so many people came out to see Jesus was because of His raising of Lazarus from the dead.
We turn to Luke’s account of the Triumphal Entry. This is what Luke 19:41-44 tells us:
41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (ESV)
At this point Jesus was coming into Jerusalem as a hero, a conquering king, the people were shouting, throwing their cloaks on the ground, and waving palm branches, there was joy in the air to the point that the Pharisees were getting nervous. They told Jesus to calm his disciples down, and Jesus said to them even if His followers were silent the rocks would cry out.7
It is at this moment, in the midst of this joy and pandemonium that Jesus begins to cry. This seems like an odd time for sadness, but these were not tears of joy, Jesus knew what would end up bringing these people peace in a few short days. It would be His rejection and crucifixion they would be clamoring for, in a way he was crying for the death of their hearts and of their souls.
Jesus knew that the people were mistaken about what and who the Messiah would be, and he knew because of this the people were about to reject Him and the salvation He was offering them, and it saddened Him.
He also knew of the destruction that would follow because of His rejection, and in verses 43 and 44 He predicted exactly what would happen in AD70 because those who were waiting, preparing, and hoping for the Messiah missed Him altogether. It broke His heart to see so many people longing for what they thought He was while missing what He really was. They wanted an earthly king and He was preparing rooms8 for people in His heavenly kingdom, if only they had ears to hear…9
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