Day Thirty-Three
It is well-known for being the shortest verse in the Bible, and it takes place just before the Passion story. Two words, from John 11:35:
Jesus wept.
Two words. A name and a verb. Yet John 11:35 is extremely profound.
It’s not long before Jesus and his disciples will enter Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday, and word comes to him that his friend Lazarus, from the town of Bethany, is sick. It’s immediately clear from the narrative that Jesus is particularly close to this family because of the language Lazarus’ sisters use in their communication to Jesus: “The one you love is sick.” (John 11:3)
“The one you love is sick.” Is there any worse news you can receive? How many times just today have people around the world received a notification like that? The one you love is sick. And immediately we want to know what we can do, how we can help. But in this case, it doesn’t prompt immediate action from Jesus. Lazarus may be a beloved friend, along with his sisters (John 11:5), but Jesus doesn’t seem to be in any rush to come to their aid. He declares that God has a plan in the midst of the crisis, waits a couple of days, shrugs off the disciples’ fear that it might be a dangerous trip, then heads to Bethany.
Many sermons have been preached on Mary and Martha, although preachers tend to focus on another encounter (recorded in Luke 10) when Jesus visits their home. Here in John 11, just like that earlier story, Martha and Mary have different responses to Jesus’ visit. Martha is quick to meet him as he arrives, but Mary stays back, perhaps frustrated that Jesus has taken this long. They are both clearly grieving, and confused as to why Jesus did not come sooner. After some theological back-and-forth, and after Mary eventually comes out to meet him, they make their way to Lazarus’ tomb.
And that is where Jesus weeps.
Preachers and theologians have debated the reasons for Jesus’ tears, wondering if it is a sign of grief or of something else. Some believe he is shedding tears at the unbelief of his friends, others think the pain and fear associated with Lazarus’ death is overwhelming him with thoughts of the cruel execution he faces when they go to Jerusalem. While theological debate can be interesting, I think it distracts us from what is a stunningly profound occurrence: the Son of God…weeps. The one who is fully divine displays his full humanness, and it is an important image for us to sit with.
In his song “Jesus Wept,” Michael Card proposes that the tears of Jesus are, ultimately, a mystery. The questions come, but they don’t find the answers we think we need:
Did Jesus weep for their disbelief?
Did he cry because his friend had died?
(Did he) take on himself all their pain and fear?
In the end, Michael Card says, the silent tears are a mystery. But while we may not know the inner thoughts of Jesus as he weeps, the very fact that he does so is incredibly important for us. We do not have a soulless, emotionless Savior. We have a friend who knows in every possible way what it means to be human. He knows pain, he knows sadness, he knows grief, he knows absolutely everything we go through (apart from sin). This is the very divine Son of God who humbled himself (Phil. 2:8)…who sympathizes with us in our weakness (Heb. 4:15)…who is like us in every way (Heb. 2:17), and as such we can come to him with anything we are going through and know that he understands. More than that—we can know that in the midst of that understanding there is compassion.
So often when we are contemplating the person of Jesus we want to solve the great theological mysteries, but we should never let the mysteries cloud our vision of the flesh and blood Savior who came to be with us and be one of us, who wept so that our tears might not fall alone.
Jesus wept that day mysterious silent tears,
The reason that He cried never will be clear.
But there's one certain thing, for now that we can say,
He had come to wipe all their tears away.
Read the rest of the lyrics here.
Watch Michael Card speak about this song and story here.
Questions for Reflection:
1) Imagine you’re at the tomb of Lazarus as this story unfolds. Put yourself in the position of different people present: Mary & Martha, the other mourners, the disciples…maybe even Jesus and Lazarus. How would you have responded if you had been in their place? How does thinking about their responses affect the way you respond to the story?
2) What does it mean to you to know that Jesus is fully human and knows the full range of human emotions that we all deal with? How does the fullness of his humanity affect the way you experience the story of his final days?
3) Can you identify with the frustration of Mary and Martha? Have there been times that God has not “shown up” at the time or in the way you expected? Have you allowed yourself the space you need to process your disappointment? How might you bring it to God in conversation?
4) This passage from Philippians 2 is a wonderful text for contemplating the nature of Jesus, fully divine yet one of us. Spend some time with it in prayer as you prepare for the arrival of Holy Week:
“Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”—Philippians 2:6-11 (NIV)