The Bible tells us in John 11:35 that “Jesus wept.” This shortest verse in Scripture speaks volumes about Christ’s humanity and empathy. Jesus was fully God, but also fully human, and His weeping demonstrates His ability to identify with human grief and sorrow.
The context of this verse is the death of Jesus’ friend Lazarus. Jesus was deeply moved by the grief of Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha when He saw them weeping (John 11:33). Although Jesus knew He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, He still wept with those who wept. As the Messiah, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 53:3 that said He would be “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
Jesus’ weeping shows that He cares deeply when we hurt. The Son of God was not indifferent to human pain. He chose to enter into our suffering, taking it upon Himself at the cross. His tears are a display of the compassionate heart of God toward His children. Jesus knows what it is like to lose someone you love. He knows the sting of death’s pain and the ache of grief. We can find comfort in bringing our sorrow to the Lord, knowing He understands and cares (Hebrews 4:15).
There are several key reasons why Jesus wept when He saw Mary’s grief:
- He was filled with empathy and compassion for those who were hurting
- He was saddened at the brokenness in the world caused by sin and death
- He grieved over the unbelief of those who did not recognize Him as the resurrection and the life
- His heart broke with the weight of the destiny before Him – He knew He would soon bear the sins of the world
Jesus shows us it is okay to grieve and feel sorrow at injustice, suffering, and the loss of life. Tears are sacred to God. But in our weeping, we can cling to the hope that Good Friday turns to Resurrection Sunday. Christ Himself tasted death for all and rose victoriously so that one day death and mourning will pass away forever (Revelation 21:4).
When we face dark valleys of sorrow and loss, Jesus promises to be there with us. He will gather our tears in His bottle (Psalm 56:8). He will carry us through the wilderness. We can fully rely on His strength and take heart that joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5). The same Jesus who wept over the death of Lazarus also spoke these words of incredible hope: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).
In summary, Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus because in His humanity, He entered into our pain. His tears demonstrate the compassionate, gentle heart of a Savior who knows our weaknesses and griefs. As the Son of God with power over death, Jesus was about to turn the mourning into joy. This short but profound verse gives us deep insight into Christ’s character – that He is both fully God and fully man. He is the Wonderful Counselor who promises to wipe away every tear (Revelation 21:4). We can find comfort and hope knowing that in our darkest moments, Jesus weeps with us.
1. Jesus wept because He cared deeply when people suffered
One of the clearest reasons Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus was because He felt genuine empathy for the suffering of others. Although Jesus knew He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, He still identified with the heartbreak of Lazarus’ family and friends who mourned his loss. Jesus did not remain detached or indifferent, but entered into their grief and shed tears with them.
This reveals the compassionate heart of Christ toward those who are hurting. Hebrews 4:15 reminds us that Jesus can “sympathize with our weaknesses” because He was tempted and tried in every way as a human, yet without sin. He is a merciful and faithful High Priest who is touched by our infirmities. Jesus knows what it is like to weep in sorrow. His tears at Lazarus’ tomb were visible evidence of how deeply He cares when we go through loss and pain.
Humanity’s suffering grieved Jesus’s heart. All sickness, tragedy and death entered the world through sin (Romans 5:12). This was never God’s design or desire. Jesus wept because the effects of the Fall were all around Him. He longed to restore and redeem what had been lost. His tears showed that He took no delight in affliction or death, but desired life, health, and joy for people.
As the Son of God, Jesus possessed the power to conquer sin, sickness and death forever. Yet He first chose the path of humility, coming as a suffering servant to bear humanity’s griefs and carry our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4). What an amazing picture of the character of Christ – that although He reigns all-powerful over the universe, He does not remain distant from our pain, but enters into it. His tears at Lazarus’ tomb give us a window into Christ’s compassionate heart for the hurting and suffering.
2. Jesus wept because death and loss caused by sin broke His heart
A second significant reason Jesus wept at Lazarus’ tomb was because death and loss caused by sin broke His heart. When God originally created the world, there was no death or sorrow. But Genesis 3 records how sin entered the world through Adam and Eve’s disobedience. The Scriptures teach that “through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12). Death is the enemy of mankind and an unnatural tragedy, not part of God’s perfect design.
Jesus was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3) because He saw all around Him the devastation caused by sin. His friend Lazarus lay in the tomb because sickness and death had encroached on the world God declared “very good” at creation. No doubt Jesus grieved over the fact that Lazarus’ life was cut short by the curse of sin’s consequences.
The righteous anger Jesus displayed by cleansing the temple (Matthew 21:12-13) also gives insight into how deeply sin troubled His spirit. In His holiness, Christ was indignant seeing God’s house of prayer turned into a den of robbers. Sin offends the sanctity of the Creator. Jesus wept at Lazarus’ tomb in sorrow over the great havoc and destruction sin had wreaked on the magnificent world God designed.
Yet we take hope in the truth that Christ came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). Although our Savior wept over the darkness in the world, He did not leave it that way. Jesus’ death and resurrection provides the way for us to be delivered from the dominion of darkness and into His kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13). What mercy that Christ took the curse of sin and brokenness upon Himself so that we could be restored!
3. Jesus grieved over the unbelief of those who rejected Him as the resurrection and the life
A third important reason Jesus wept at Lazarus’ tomb was because of the unbelief of those who rejected Him as the resurrection and the life. In John 11:25-26 Jesus told Martha “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Yet in the face of this monumental declaration of His power over death, many still refused to put their faith in Christ.
Just a short time earlier, the Jewish leaders had picked up stones to kill Jesus when He claimed to be the great I AM and one with the Father (John 10:30-33). They rejected His statements of His divine identity and miraculous power. Now Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus, about to demonstrate definitively that He had authority over life and death itself. Yet He knew many still would not believe, even in the face of such a dramatic resurrection.
No doubt it broke Jesus’ heart to see the darkness and hardness of heart in some of the people. Although He longed for their salvation and came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), many rejected the light because they loved the darkness (John 3:19). They chose unbelief in the face of standing before the resurrection and the life Himself. This caused Jesus to weep in lament over the judgments that unbelief would bring.
4. Jesus wept under the weight of the cross before Him
As Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus, the weight of His coming sacrifice at Calvary was also upon His heart. Just a short time later He would be crucified as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). No doubt the burden of what lay ahead caused sorrow and distress to well up within Him.
The night before going to the cross, Jesus agonized in grief and anxiety in the Garden of Gethsemane, crying out to the Father and sweating drops of blood (Luke 22:44). Although Jesus made it clear that He willingly laid down His life (John 10:18), the prospect of taking on the sin and judgment of the world caused intense sorrow in His soul. We get just a glimpse of this when we see His tears at Lazarus’ tomb.
Jesus purposefully and resolutely set His face toward Jerusalem and the cross (Luke 9:51). But the suffering He was about to bear caused Him intense grief. At the tomb of Lazarus Jesus knew He would soon take the sting out of death itself. Yet He also knew the road to victory would be through death on a Roman cross. No doubt His human emotions were a mix of resolution toward His mission as well as sorrow knowing what lay ahead.
5. By weeping, Jesus demonstrated His true humanity
Finally, we must recognize the simple but profound truth that Jesus wept because He was fully human. He was not only the divine Son of God but also “the son of man” (Matthew 20:28). The incarnation allowed the eternal God to experience finite human emotions and enter into our sufferings.
Jesus’ tears showed that He was “tempted as we are” (Hebrews 4:15). They displayed how vividly He shared in the wide range of human feelings and experiences. At Lazarus’ grave we see Christ’s deep empathy, love, courage, resoluteness as well as profound grief. This reveals His true humanity in the most vivid way.
The scene of Jesus weeping stands in stark contrast to the portraits of aloof, emotionless gods in many ancient religions. The infinite God cared so greatly that He wrapped Himself in fragile human flesh. The Creator subjected Himself to the limitations and heartaches of His creatures. In Jesus of Nazareth we meet the God who not only reigns in power, but also identifies with our weaknesses. The Lord of Heaven walked the dust of earth, and at the tomb of Lazarus, we see Him overcome with human sorrow. What kind of God weeps with us! This shows the immeasurable riches of His kindness and mercy.
6. Jesus was moved to joyful tears at Lazarus’ resurrection
After Jesus wept in empathy with Mary and Martha, the account says “He was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled” (John 11:33). The original Greek word for “deeply moved” embodies the idea of righteous anger or emotional indignation in the face of sin and death’s devastation.
Jesus then commanded Lazarus to come out of the tomb, resurrected to new life. We can envision Christ transitioning from tears of grief to tears of joy. The resurrection of Lazarus prompted celebration and weeping for joy, the very emotions Jesus warned people would experience after His own death and resurrection (John 16:20-22).
This scene of Jesus raising Lazarus and the resulting joy gives us a preview of Christ’s ultimate defeat over sin, death and the grave. It points ahead to the hope of resurrection for all believers. Just as Lazarus’ family and friends rejoiced at his return to life, we will rejoice together with loved ones when Jesus returns to make all things new.
The resurrection of Lazarus displays Christ’s power and glory like few other events in the Gospels. It is the climatic seventh sign in John proving Jesus was the Messiah. This mighty demonstration of Jesus’ divine identity likely mingled His tears of sorrow with tears of joy and hope. Christ had not only wept with Mary and Martha but now turned their weeping into rejoicing.
7. Jesus promises to wipe away every tear
Revelation 21:4 gives an incredibly moving portrait of God Himself comforting His people: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” The same Jesus who wept at Lazarus’ tomb will one day make good on His promise to erase sorrow forever.
We take great hope knowing sorrow and death will not have the final say. Even as we walk through dark valleys, the light of Christ’s resurrection shines brightly, reminding us joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5). We can find strength in the truth that God is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18).
Jesus’ tears at Lazarus’ tomb teach us so much about the beauty of Christ’s humanity and the hope Christ’s divinity. Both His deity and humanity were on full display. United perfectly in Him was infinite power and yet genuine human empathy. The God who weeps with us will also one day return to make all things new. What marvelous hope we have in Jesus the resurrection and the life!
8. Jesus knows our pains and promises to walk with us through them
A final comfort we take from seeing Jesus weep is that He knows our pains and promises to walk with us through them. Jesus does not remain distant from human suffering, but entered into it fully by becoming one of us. He experienced the breadth of human emotions and difficulties so that we can know He understands.
Isaiah 53:4 says, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” We never suffer alone because Christ has borne our griefs. The writer of Hebrews says we do not have a high priest who cannot “sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15).
Because Jesus walked the lonely road to the cross, He knows our loneliness. Because He wept at the tomb of Lazarus, He understands our grief. Because He sweat drops of blood, He knows our anxieties. Because He was rejected and betrayed, He knows our hurts. In all points, Jesus was tested and tried so that we could find help and mercy in time of need (Hebrews 2:18, 4:16).
When tears flow down our faces, we can take comfort that Jesus understands, He cares, and He promises to walk beside us. We have not been left as orphans but have a Savior who wants to gather us in His arms like a mother hen gathers her chicks (Luke 13:34). The God who weeps with us will also one day wipe every tear from our eyes. We can cling to Him with faith that dawn will break through the darkness.
9. Jesus calls us to weep with those who weep
As followers of Christ, Jesus’ tears also call us to enter into the sorrows of others. Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” Like our Savior, we are to be moved with compassion and be willing to get our hands dirty to help carry another’s burdens.
Sometimes the best thing we can do is sit silently and mourn with those who mourn. We do not need to offer advice or philosophical explanations for suffering. The simplest ministry we can provide is a listening ear, an understanding heart, and a willingness to remain present. As Jesus wept with Mary and Martha, we can bring His love into the loneliness and grief of others.
Jesus’ humanity shines so beautifully in this shortest verse of Scripture. As God incarnate, He chose not to remain aloof from human suffering but entered into it fully. At the tomb of Lazarus He demonstrated that God takes no pleasure in affliction or death. He showed that He cares deeply about our sorrows. The Savior who wept for a fallen humanity will also one day redeem our tears. What amazing hope we find in Christ’s humanity and divinity on display at Lazarus’ tomb!