Jesus Wept – John 11:35

The Bible verse “Jesus wept” is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 11, verse 35. It is the shortest verse in the Bible but carries profound significance.

• Sunday school – If we were asked to learn a verse I always chose this one.
• Plumpton Men’s wellness conference – vulnerability (Matt) / Southend United

Exegesis of “Jesus wept” (John 11:35)

Context of the Verse: In John 11, Jesus visits the town of Bethany after hearing of the death of his friend Lazarus. Upon arriving, he is met by Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, who are mourning their brother’s death. Jesus is deeply moved by their sorrow and the mourning of the other Jews present.

Emotional Significance: “Jesus wept” reveals the profound empathy and compassion Jesus feels for those who are suffering. His tears demonstrate that he shares in human grief and sorrow, highlighting his deep connection to humanity. Despite knowing he would soon raise Lazarus from the dead, Jesus still allows himself to feel and express sorrow, showing his genuine emotional engagement with the people around him.

Theological Implications: This verse has significant theological implications regarding the nature of Jesus and, by extension, the nature of God. Jesus’ act of weeping underscores the Christian belief in the Incarnation, the idea that God took on human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. By experiencing human emotions and pain, Jesus bridges the divine and human realms. This connection invites believers to see God as one who understands and participates in the human condition.

Relevance to the Question: Is God Human? The question of whether God is human is complex. Within Christian theology, God is understood to be both fully divine and fully human in the person of Jesus Christ. “Jesus wept” serves as a poignant example of this dual nature:

Divine Compassion: Jesus, as God, shows divine compassion and empathy through his human expression of sorrow. This suggests that God’s nature includes an understanding of and empathy for human experiences.

Human Experience: By weeping, Jesus demonstrates his full participation in human life. He experiences emotions, grief, and loss, just as any human would. This affirms the belief that in Jesus, God truly became human.

Conclusion: “Jesus wept” is a powerful reminder of the profound connection between the divine and human in Christian theology. It illustrates that God, in Jesus Christ, fully experiences human emotions and sorrows, affirming the belief in the Incarnation. This verse assures believers that their grief and suffering are known and shared by God, offering comfort and hope. In this way, “Jesus wept” emphasizes the humanity of Jesus while simultaneously pointing to the compassionate nature of God.

Connection with King David

In the Old Testament, there’s a well-known account of King David dancing before the Lord, which is recorded in 2 Samuel 6:14-22.

David Dancing Before the Lord – 2 Samuel 6:14-22

Context of the Event: David’s dance occurs as he brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. The Ark, which symbolizes God’s presence, had been captured by the Philistines and then returned to Israel. David, filled with joy and reverence, dances with all his might in celebration.

Emotional Significance: David’s dance is an expression of exuberant worship and uninhibited joy. It signifies his heartfelt devotion to God and his acknowledgment of God’s greatness. By dancing, David not only celebrates the return of the Ark but also publicly displays his gratitude and humility before God.

Vulnerability in Worship: David’s act of dancing, especially as a king, involves a level of vulnerability. In 2 Samuel 6:20-22, we see that Michal, Saul’s daughter and David’s wife, criticizes him for what she perceives as undignified behaviour. However, David responds that he is willing to become even more undignified in his worship of God. This highlights his willingness to be vulnerable and to prioritize his relationship with God over social conventions and royal decorum.

Connection to “Jesus Wept”

Both “Jesus wept” and David’s dance share themes of emotional expression and vulnerability in the context of their relationship with God and humanity.

Emotional Expression:

Jesus Wept: Jesus shows profound empathy and compassion through his tears, sharing in human grief and sorrow.

David Danced: David expresses his joy and reverence for God through his dance, celebrating the return of the Ark.

Vulnerability:

Jesus Wept: Jesus’ willingness to openly weep reveals his genuine connection to human emotions and experiences, despite his divine nature.

David Danced: David’s willingness to dance with abandon, even at the risk of appearing undignified, demonstrates his devotion to God and his openness to being vulnerable in worship.

Theological Implications:

Both instances emphasize the importance of emotional authenticity in one’s relationship with God. Jesus’ tears and David’s dance show that God values sincere emotional expression.

These stories highlight the human aspect of religious leaders: Jesus, as God incarnate, weeps; David, as a king, dances. Both are willing to set aside their status and openly express their emotions in the context of their faith.

Conclusion: David’s dance and Jesus’ tears remind us that vulnerability and emotional expression are integral parts of a genuine relationship with God. They show that true worship and compassion involve being open, honest, and willing to share in both joy and sorrow.

These acts of vulnerability help bridge the divine and human, making the presence of God more tangible and relatable.

Notes

The Tears Of Jesus

John 11:35

J.R. Thomson

Thrice in the gospel narrative is Jesus recorded to have wept; viz. over the unbelieving and doomed city of Jerusalem, by the grave of his friend, Lazarus of Bethany, and in the garden of Gethsemane, when enduring the agony which all but overwhelmed his soul. Much valuable and consolatory reflection is suggested by the simple record, “Jesus wept.”

I. CHRIST’S CAPACITY FOR TEARS.

1. It is obvious to say this capacity lay in his true human nature. As we read in Job, “Man is born to sorrow;” as our poet sings, “Man is made to mourn.” Jesus was “a Man of sorrows.”

2. Christ was capable of human sympathy. Men weep for themselves, and they weep for others. The tears of Jesus were tears shed, not for himself, but for members of this race whose nature he assumed.

3. This capacity lay yet deeper in our Lord’s Divinity. It is unjust to represent God as unfeeling; he is susceptible of some deep “painless sympathy with pain.” He pities and grieves over the sorrow he nevertheless in wisdom and in love permits.

II. THE OCCASIONS OF CHRIST’S TEARS. The narrative reveals:

1. His personal sorrow for the death of his friend. He had been wont to come to Bethany to meet with a cordial welcome and a friendly smile from Lazarus. And as he knew the joys of friendship, so did he experience the distress of bereavement. There was justice in the exclamation of the Jews, “Behold how he loved him!”

2. His sympathy with the grief of the bereaved sisters. Mary and Martha were nearest in kindred and in affection to the deceased Lazarus; and Jesus, who loved all three, could not but feet for the sisters whom he found in sorrow and in tears.

3. Consciousness of the power of sin. Nothing less than this can account for the prevalence and the bitterness of the heart’s anguish. Jesus, who knew all things, knew this; it was sin which “brought death into the world with all its woes.” In every instance of human mortality Jesus could not fail to discern the bitterer root of fruit so bitter. Hence the strong emotion he displayed, as he groaned and was stirred and moved by the mighty wave of feeling which swept over his soul.

III. THE PRACTICAL OUTCOME OF CHRIST’S TEARS. There are cases in which tears are a substitute for help. It was not so in the instance before us. The heart that found expression for its woe in tears, found expression for its sympathy and pity in the reaching out of a hand of help. Jesus first wept, and then succored the sorrowful and raised the dead. Christian sympathy should be like Christ’s sympathy, which was not content with words and tears, but made for itself a way of practical compassion.

IV. THE SIGNIFICANT LESSONS OF CHRIST’S TEARS.

1. They assure us that we have in him a feeling Friend, who in all our afflictions is afflicted.
2. They teach us a lesson of sympathy – that we should “weep with those who weep.”
3. They remind us by contrast of that state where “all tears shall be wiped from off all faces.”

“The path of sorrow, and that path alone,

Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown.” T.

Biblical Illustrator

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping.

John 11:33

Christ concealing His glory

J. Jortin, D. D.

In this history our Saviour appears under two very different aspects. As the sun, on some days, sometimes shines out in full strength, and sometimes is clouded over, and yet is still the same fountain of light, so it is with our Sun of Righteousness, on the day of the resurrection of Lazarus. He shines in full splendour when He exerts His power over the grave, and breaks asunder the bonds of death: but He hides all that majesty when He appears under a great commotion of mind, which vents itself in sighs and tears.

(J. Jortin, D. D.)

The effects of bereavement

Bp. Hopkins.

After sore bereavement, Sir Walter Scott says,” I was broken-hearted for two years: and though handsomely pieced again, the crack will remain to my dying day.” Tears — Tears are the inheritance of our eyes; either our sufferings call for them or our sins; and nothing can wholly dry them up but the dust of the grave.

(Bp. Hopkins.)

He groaned in spirit.

Groaned

Archdeacon Watkins.

The word occurs also in ver. 38; Matthew 9:30; Mark 1:43; Mark 14:5. The original meaning is “to snort, as of horses.” Passing to the moral sense, it expresses disturbance of mind — vehement agitation. This may express itself in sharp admonition, in words of anger against a person, or in a physical shudder, answering to the intensity of the emotion. In each of the earlier Gospels the word is accompanied by an object upon which the feeling is directed. In the present context it does not go beyond the subject of the feeling. Here it is “in the spirit” (cf. John 12:21), and in ver. 38 it is “in Himself.” Both mean the same thing; and point to the inner moral depth of His righteous indignation. Taken in connection with what follows some such rendering is required as “He was indignant in the spirit and caused Himself to shudder.”

(Archdeacon Watkins.)

Natural emotions

Abp. Trench., Bp. Alexander.

At what and with whom was Jesus indignant? The notion of some Greek expositors that it was with Himself — that we have here the indications of an inward struggle to repress, as something weak and unworthy, that human pity, which found presently its utterance in tears — cannot be accepted for an instant. Christianity demands the regulation of the natural affections, but it does not, like stoicism, demand their suppression; so far from this it bids us “weep with them that weep” and “seek not altogether to dry the stream of sorrow, but to bound it and keep it within its banks.” Some suppose Him indignant in spirit at the hostile dispositions of the Jews and the unbelief with which this signal work of His would be received. Others, that His indignation was excited by the unbelief of Martha and Mary and the others, which they manifested in their weeping, testifying that they did not believe that He would raise their dead. But He Himself wept presently, and there was nothing in these natural tears of theirs to rouse a feeling of displeasure. Rather was it the indignation which the Lord of Life felt at all that sin had wrought. He beheld death in all its dread significance, as the wages of sin; the woes of a whole world, of which this was a little sample, rose up before His eyes: all its mourners and all its graves were present to Him. For that He was about to wipe away the tears of those present and turn for a little while their sorrow into joy, did not truly alter the case. Lazarus rose again, but only to taste a second time the bitterness of death; these mourners He might comfort, but only for a season; these tears he might staunch, only again hereafter to flow; and how many had flowed and must flow with no such Comforter to wipe them even for a season away. As He contemplated all this, a mighty indignation at the author of all this anguish possessed His heart. And now he will no longer delay, but will do at once battle with death and with Him that hath the power of death; and spoiling though but in part the goods of the strong man armed, will give proof that a stronger is here.

(Abp. Trench.)

He was troubled, rather “troubled Himself,” for a certain Divine decorum tempers all we read of Him, and He is not represented to us as possessing a nature to be played upon by passive emotions. Why? We cannot fully tell. Perhaps, we may conceive the case of a physician coming into a room, where friends and children are sobbing over one whom they supposed to be doomed, himself weeping in sympathy though sure that he can heal. But at least this shows us that we have a real Christ. It was never invented. The imaginary Christ would have walked majestically up the slope of the Mount of Olives, and, standing with a halo of the sunset around his brow, have bidden the dead to rise. The real Christ was a dusty and wayworn man, who wept over the grave, and lifted up His eyes. The reality teaches us that the dead are not raised by a stoic philosopher, with an eye of ice and a heart of marble, but by One who is very Man with the tender weakness that is more beautiful than all our strength. His is more majestic as well as more moving. But could St. John have invented it?

(Bp. Alexander.)

Songs about ‘Jesus Wept’

There are several contemporary songs that reference “Jesus Wept” or explore themes related to Jesus’ compassion and empathy. Here are a few examples:

• “Jesus Wept” by Fields of Grace – This song, written by Elise Ingle and performed by Fields of Grace, reflects on Jesus’ tears and his deep empathy for human suffering.
• “Jesus Wept” by Sia – Sia’s song “Jesus Wept” delves into the emotional and spiritual aspects of Jesus’ tears, offering a modern take on this biblical event.
• “Jesus Wept” by iamnotshane – This song, available on platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud, also explores the theme of Jesus’ compassion and his shared human experience.

These songs offer a contemporary perspective on the profound emotional connection Jesus had with humanity, as depicted in John 11:35.

With Jesus Wept, Sia applies the resurrection language of the gospel to the experience of addiction.

“Jesus wept.” This is the shortest verse in the Bible and also the title of a new single from Sia’s deluxe version of the album This is Acting. The verse is a unique portrayal of Christ’s humanity. Sia’s single gives a true depiction of humanity with a hint of hope. Together, the verse and the song show us how light can overcome the darkness.

Though Jesus has power over the darkness of death, he still grieves over its brokenness. John tells us Jesus was “deeply moved in spirit and troubled” when he saw Mary weeping over her dead brother, Lazarus. Everyone said he was too late, but Jesus came at the perfect time to display the glory of God in the face of death. He came to prove what he said to Lazarus’ other sister, Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

When Jesus told Martha that her brother would rise again, she thought he was referring to the resurrection of the dead on the last day. He came to physically raise Lazarus from the dead, but that physical reality was a symbol of the spiritual reality of Christ’s power to also bring to life dead souls. This resurrection work is not just saved for our physical bodies on the last day, as Martha thought, but it is a spiritual work Christ inaugurated with his coming and continues to do today.

We can see this play out in the lives of those who are enslaved to the spiritual death of addiction, which Sia points to in “Jesus Wept.” The orchestral opening of the song cuts out to short harp strums and cello as Sia’s slow, plodding vocals begin the opening verse. Resembling the mournful sounds of a funeral dirge, the verses speak of the emptiness of “God-shaped holes” and how she tries to fill them with “bottled friends who won’t bring relief,” with parties, and “with mighty weed.” Sia seems to be referring to the same type of behavior exhibited in her hit song, “Chandelier,” which opens with these lines:

    Party girls don’t get hurt

    Can’t feel anything, when will I learn

    I push it down, push it down.

As she pushes down the emptiness by binge drinking, she ends the verses with, “Throw ’em back, till I lose count.” In another verse, Sia mentions the addict’s close companion, shame:

    Sun is up, I’m a mess

    Gotta get out now, gotta run from this

     Here comes the shame, here comes the shame.

And yet, with “Jesus Wept,” Sia introduces a light into this darkness of addiction. As the first verse ends, piano keys lead the way to the chorus, where Sia’s vocals become stronger and more confident:

    How Jesus wept

    He wept as he

    Took twelve steps

    And carried me

   Oh, how he wept

   For thee

   Resurrection on me

In the third line of the chorus, Sia might be referring to the 12 steps of recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous. She feels that someone carried her through that process and wept for her.

If Jesus’ weeping shows his humanity, then his power to raise the dead to life displays his deity. “Jesus Wept” slowly progresses towards a “blinding white light.” Sia’s vocals, along with the instrumentation, burst forth like a resurrection. As Jesus raised Lazarus to life, he can also raise those suffering from the spiritual death of addiction. Jesus asked Martha, “Do you believe this?” To which she answered, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Only the Son of God can weep over, carry, and raise to life that which is dead.