JESUS WEEPS
JESUS WEEPS
JOHN 11:28-37
At the graveside of his friend Jesus was moved and he wept.
Martha may at times have been a difficult person to live with (Luke 10:40), but she had a sense of responsibility. She went to Mary, and aware of her sensitive nature she called her quietly, saying that Jesus had specifically asked for her. She too had to be involved in the amazing event that was to happen. Mary went off, not, as the Jews supposed, to weep hopelessly for her dead brother, but to meet the Lord of life. Her words to Jesus are the same as Martha’s. They both believed that he could have prevented the tragedy, and fail to understand why it was that he had not come when they had called for him.
Jesus is deeply affected by the sight of mourning which confronts him. When they take him to the tomb, he too weeps. To the Jews this is evidence of his love for Lazarus and some of them too wonder why he did not intervene sooner. But it seems that Jesus’ weeping goes a good deal deeper than sympathy. There is an anger about it. This is probably, at the deepest level, anger against sin and death and the terrible hold which they have on the human race. Perhaps there was also anger at the unbelief or half-belief of those who could not see that he was able to fulfill his claims to raise the dead. His weeping, in any event, is not on the same level as theirs. It is his preparation for grappling with the power of death here and on the cross (Hebrews 2:14f.; cf. Hebrews 5:7-9).
Notes 11:28: “the Teacher” may have been the name by which he was known to the family. It is an inadequate description of him at this crisis. 11:32: Mary’s action is more impetuous than Martha’s. Jesus does not try to explain things to her but goes straight into action. 11:33: for his being troubled as he faced his passion, cf. 12:27; 13:21. Our redemption was achieved at tremendous cost to him. 11:34: the only occasion in the Gospel on which he asks for information. 11:36: it was not his weeping but his death which was to show his love, not only for Lazarus, but for the whole world.