JESUS WEPT

JOHN 11:35 “JESUS WEPT.”
(KJV, NKJV, NIV, NASB. NET)



      I really wanted to start this book on memorizing Scripture with John 11:35. Well known as the shortest verse in the Bible, this would have been the easiest place to start what, for many, seems a daunting task...memorizing the Word. Start with the easiest.

     I will always remember Sunday School “Sword Drills,” or Scripture Memory contests. I was never fast enough, or called on first, so I could quote John 11:35 before one of my brothers did. However, you couldn’t have come up with an easier verse...just two words...that could have said so much in such a short sentence.

     By the way, for the trivia experts in our midst, this is not the only Scripture in the Bible with just two words. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says, “Rejoice evermore.” Of course, the real scholars among us would quickly point out that this Scripture is only two words long in ENGLISH!

     Aha! If we were to look at the “original Greek” that this was written in, we would find this Scripture is even shorter. “Jesus wept” translates from the single Greek word meaning “shed tears”.

     What a great contrast to the first Scripture we memorized. There, the God of creation speaks words and creation comes into existence. Here, that same God, now come in flesh to live among us, is so much like us that he cries at the death of Lazarus.

     Unquestionably, Jesus knew what was to follow...He was preparing to raise Lazarus from the dead. However, had we been there watching him cry over the loss of one He loved so much, we might have agreed with what the Jews said in the following Scripture: “See, how he loved him!” But I think Jesus’ tears went way beyond this specific event and way beyond his love, deep as it was, for Lazarus.

     The God-Man who now came in the flesh for our salvation could feel exactly the same pain we all feel at the loss of the one we loved the most. If you have never experienced that pain, you will. When that time comes, remember Jesus felt it too and will feel it with you.

     Maybe the pain that caused Jesus to weep might even have come because no one on earth knew better than He did how unnecessary that pain was. The pain of death was the direct result of our disobedience as much as it was of Adam and Eve’s. Jesus knew that, as much pain as death causes us as humans, He was coming to ensure that we could enjoy eternal life. AND, He knew that there would be a day...even as we now wait for that day to come...when after wiping away every tear like the one He shed that day, He would destroy the last enemy, death.

     Oh weary husband, who weeps because the love of his many years of life is now gone, Jesus weeps with you. Parent, whose child has been unjustly or suddenly ripped out of your life through accident or tragedy, know that Jesus weeps with you. And even as He demonstrated with Lazarus that He alone has all power over death and the grave...even as He alone demonstrated by raising Himself from the grave after a gruesome death...He has proved to us that death has no power over Him and He will wipe away every tear, just like the ones He experienced with us. Jesus wept. John 11:35.



Questions to ponder: Can you visualize this scene depicted for us in John? Do you identify more with our Savior because He cried at Lazarus’ tomb? Were there any other times in the Scripture where Jesus wept? The central doctrine demonstrated by this Scripture is our identification with the humanity of Jesus. As both God and Man, do you tend to see Jesus more as one than the other? Which one? Describe some of the characteristics of Jesus which contrast His humanity with His deity. The shortest verse in the Bible, why does it not use more words and go into more detail to describe what Jesus did here?

Other Scriptures to Consider: Hebrews 4:15 "For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities..." Galatians 6:2 “Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Luke 7:11-15 “..his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Matthew 23:37 “…how often I have longed to gather your children together…”