Jesus Wept

John 11:35 NIV: “Jesus wept.”

Known in many trivia questions as the shortest verse in the Bible, this verse is paradoxically rich in meaning. The context is everything to understanding this simple statement recorded by John in his gospel writing.

Chapter 11 tells us that Jesus’s close friend Lazarus is very sick. Jesus is at least 25 miles away on the road with his disciples, but Lazarus’s sisters send word, knowing that of all people, Jesus the healer could come and do something about their brother’s illness.

Jesus waits another two days after hearing the news before he and the disciples head back to Bethany, where Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha, live. As they start their two-day trek, it’s important to note that Jesus already knows Lazarus has died and has announced that he will raise him from the dead.

The subsequent two encounters John writes about are with Martha and Mary, who both say the same thing to Jesus separately. “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” That word IF is the crux of both the sisters’ emotions and is the essence of all our grief – IF ONLY. I’d like to believe that Martha was angry because scripture says she went to meet Jesus on the road with her “If only” statement. Mary, though, didn’t come out of the house until her sister relayed that Jesus wanted to see her. Mary’s “If only” statement comes with her having collapsed to the ground near Jesus’ feet in utter grief. The scriptures say she was weeping or klaió, an audible loud sobbing or wailing.

Here, we come to the inspiration for my art piece. As Jesus looks down at Mary in the throes of suffering, scripture says, “he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” Then, as he asks to be taken to the grave, we read, “Jesus wept.” The Greek word used here, dakruó, is in stark contrast to the weeping of the mourners around him. Dakruo’, from the word for teardrop, means silent crying. It is the spontaneous overflow of deep emotion silently flowing down someone’s cheek.

Jesus wasn’t crying because the situation was hopeless or unknown or because he missed Lazarus; he was getting ready to raise his friend from the dead! So why did he cry? Because Mary was hurting and because the people all around him were hurting.

Jesus is moved and troubled when we are troubled. When we experience illness, loss, failure, desperation, loneliness, and frustration, he experiences it with us. When we weep, he weeps. This empathy is the gift of Christ’s incarnation: he loves us so much that he chooses to experience our darkest moments with us.