Jesus Wept

Jesus began to weep.

John 11:35 (NRSV)

Jesus began to cry.

John 11:35 (CEB)

Now Jesus wept.

John 11:35 (MSG)

Jesus wept.

John 11:35 (NIV, ESV, KJV)

It is considered the shortest verse in all of Holy Scripture. It is a verse that we don’t always give full attention to during our studies and meditations. I would like to spotlight this one verse for just a moment, for in this one verse we see the most incredible example of the full humanity of Jesus on display.

Jesus had just arrived at the tomb of Lazarus, after having waited days after initially learning of Lazarus’s illness and subsequent death before finally returning to Bethany at the behest of Mary, the sister of Lazarus. This is the same Mary who had anointed Jesus with oil and washed his feet with her hair. Now he has finally arrived to find Lazarus dead for four days already, and Mary is not happy.

Jesus, who knows what is really going on and knows that Lazarus is about walk out of the tomb, is also not happy. His friend had died, and Jesus wept.

There is no buffer here. There’s no warming up to the fact. The Fourth Evangelist simply states exactly what happened. “Jesus wept.” Even though Jesus knew he was about to resurrect Lazarus from the dead, even though Jesus knew full well that death is not the end, still he felt the sadness at the loss of his friend, and so he expressed that very human emotion by crying, just like we do.

Jesus was fully human as well as fully divine. He knew what it was like to experience loss. He understood human suffering. He understood that, even though we know as people of faith that death is not the end, we still feel the crushing sadness of grief when a loved one dies. Even though we know that resurrection is coming, we mourn.

The shortest verse in scripture reminds us that Jesus Christ mourned just like we do.

We are not alone. Thanks be to God. Amen.