The Gospels are filled with stores of Jesus, some showing His human side and others showing more of His divine nature. He was truly God and man, at the same time. At times, it’s hard to tell whether it is His human side or His divinity that is showing through. Actually, these times are probably both, as He never stops being man, just as He never stops being God.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. – Philippians 2:5-8
It is important, when studying what Jesus said and did, that we always keep in mind that He was fully God and fully man. He never stopped being one or the other, even for a moment. He needed to be fully man, so that we could follow His example. At the same time, He needed to be fully God, so that He wouldn’t react out of a sinful, flesh nature. He combined the two at all times, showing us the fullness of what we can become, while also demonstrating the love of the Father to us.
As a man, He had emotions, just like us. However, it is safe to say that He dealt with His emotions differently than we do. We have a horrible tendency to allow our emotions to take control, leading us to doing things that we shouldn’t, even things that would be sin. Jesus never did that. He didn’t allow His emotions to control Him, although He did allow His emotions to show on a number of occasions.
Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8 thought He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. – Hebrews 5:7-8
This verse can easily be seen to refer to Jesus’ death on the cross; but that’s not all that’s there. It clearly states that He offered up prayers and supplications. For whom? Not just for Himself; but for you, I and every other person who has ever lived. Jesus intercedes for us and is still at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for us (Romans 8:34).
True intercession isn’t sterile; it has emotion, as did Jesus’ intercession for us. That verse shows this, in that he cried vehemently, with tears, over us. We don’t know how often this happened, but it’s safe to say that it happened more than once, as the author of Hebrews made a point of including it in his epistle to the Hebew people. Those cries and tears apparently had an impact on him, just as it would on us. To think that Jesus Himself cried over us, gives us a window into the depth of His extreme love for us.
Jesus Wept Over Jerusalem
While there are only a couple of examples in the Gospels of Jesus weeping, they are significant. As He was arriving in Jerusalem, mounted on a donkey on the day we know as Psalm Sunday, he wept over Jerusalem.
Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, 44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” – Luke 19:43
There’s a lot that can be seen in this verse. First, is the obvious reference to Jesus, weeping over the city. Here He is, sitting on a donkey, entering the city like a conquering king; yet, rather than being joyful, He was weeping over the city. Why? Based on the following verses, there were two reasons. First, that the city of peace (that’s what Jerusalem means) had never experienced the peace that it should have. Secondly, the people were missing the significance of Jesus entering into the city on a donkey, to be the King of the Jews. Finally, looking forward in time, Jesus wept over the future of Jerusalem, when it would be besieged and destroyed.
I doubt that Jesus was really concerned about the city itself; it was the people of the city He was weeping over. His concern has never been over buildings of stone, but hearts of flesh. He wasn’t weeping for the city itself, but over the lives which would be destroyed along with the city.
This gives us some wonderful insight into our Lord, that we don’t always see through the rest of the Gospels. While we see that Jesus had concern for the people, especially for their suffering and infirmities, and His death on the cross proves his concern for their eternal souls, here we see His concern for them while here on this earth. What an incredible insight into the Lord’s love and how it motivated Him to be born as a man and die on the cross for us.
It is interesting how He referred to the city, saying, “especially in this your day.” The specific word He used could only have been a natural day, not a figurative period of time. Therefore, He could only have been referring to the day of His riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. As I already mentioned, this was what we know as Palm Sunday. On this day, every year, the residents of Jerusalem, along with visiting Jews, would line the streets, with palm branches in their hands, awaiting the lamb that the High Priest would sacrifice for the Passover. But when the Lamb of God arrived, they abandoned the lamb, for the true Lamb. They had literally been practicing the arrival of Jesus into the city for centuries!
We must remember that although Jesus is connected to Christianity, He was also the Jewish Messiah. As such, He first came for the Jews and then for the rest of the world. This day of His arrival in Jerusalem was truly Jerusalem’s day, in that prophecy was to be fulfilled, as their Messiah had come.
Yet most of the Jews, and especially the Jewish leadership, did not recognize Jesus for who He was. No wonder he wept. He had come to save them and they didn’t recognize their Savior.
Jesus Wept at Lazarus’ Funeral
The only other time that the Gospels talk about Jesus’ weeping, was when He wept about Lazarus’ death. Lazarus had fallen ill, while Jesus was at the Jordan River, in the place where John the Baptist had been ministering. While there, the sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, telling Him “Lord, behold he whom You love is sick” (John 11:3b). Although Jesus loved Lazarus, He decided to wait two more days where He was (John 11:6), saying, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). We know that He knew that Lazarus died during those two days, because He told His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up” (John 11:11). They didn’t understand, so He had to be a bit more direct, telling them, “Lazarus is dead” (John 11:14).
Clearly this was all part of God’s purpose and just as clearly, Jesus knew that. He knew Lazarus was going to get sick; that he was going to die and that He Himself would raise Lazarus from the dead. Everything was deliberate, with Jesus telling His disciples:
And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believer. Nevertheless, let us go to him. – John 11:15
Arriving at Bethany, the first to approach Jesus was Martha, hurrying to meet Him, once she heard that He was coming. This was the same woman who had been working hard in the kitchen, preparing a meal, while her sister sat at Jesus’ feet in their home. she said:
“Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” – John 11:22-23
Later, her sister Mary approached Jesus, saying exactly the same words that Martha had said in the first sentence, but not adding the second. Obviously, they both had faith; but Martha appears to have been trying to use hers to manipulate Jesus, while Mary merely declared her faith. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but it appears that He did so for Mary, not for Martha.
But before Jesus raised Lazarus, he wept. He was obviously moved by the situation, responding to it in a very human way. Even though He knew that He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, He groaned and He wept.
Therefore, when Jesus saw (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. – John 11:33-35
It is unlikely this is the first death that Jesus experienced. Yet He wept at this one. This naturally raises the question of why He wept at the death of Lazarus, when there is nothing recorded in scripture about Him weeping at other deaths, including that of His own earthly father, Joseph. Yet it is clear that Joseph wasn’t in the picture at the time of His ministry, as the last time he is mentioned is in Luke, chapter 2, when Jesus was 12 years old. So, why did Jesus weep?
- Friendship
We know that Lazarus was a friend, both because Jesus and His disciples had eaten at their home, and because of the message that his sisters sent to Jesus, saying “he whom You love is sick” (John 11:3). While we have no idea just how many people this could or would have been said about; it was said about Lazarus. Jesus responded out of His humanity, when He saw the people weeping over the death of Lazarus.
Jesus’ friendship didn’t just extend towards Lazarus, but his sisters as well. He saw the emotional pain they were going through in the wake of their brother’s death. His compassion in seeing their pain would have been enough to cause Him to groan and weep.
- Lack of Faith
While both Mary and Martha had enough faith to believe that Jesus could have prevented their brother from dying, it is questionable whether they had enough faith to believe He could raise Lazarus from the dead. It is quite possible that they had seen Him heal people; but it is much less likely that they had seen Him raise someone from the dead, as He only raised three people from the dead in his ministry, including Lazarus.
It was common for Jesus to be bothered by people’s lack of faith and He spoke out about it frequently. His desire for people to have faith wasn’t something egotistical, but something He saw as necessary for people to have a relationship with His Father. This was especially true of those who were close to Him, as both Mary and Martha were.
- Hatred of Death
Although Jesus knew that Lazarus’ death was necessary, to prove His power of death and the grave, that doesn’t mean that He liked it. Through the years of His ministry, Jesus saved many from sickness and death. In a very real sense, death was a personal and professional enemy, as death didn’t lead to God’s presence in heaven until after Jesus was raised from the dead. For His friend to have to experience death would have bothered Jesus.
- Professional Mourners
It has been speculated that the other people weeping in verse 33 were professional mourners, rather than friends of the family. These were people who were paid to mourn, as a means of comforting the family and helping them process through their grief. We don’t know, but this may have bothered Jesus, who could very well have seen these professional mourners as leeches who were dragging down the faith of Mary and Martha.
He Didn’t Weep Because…
It is easy to make the mistake of thinking that Jesus wept for the same reasons we weep, when a loved one dies. There was no uncertainty in Jesus’ thoughts and heart. He knew exactly where Lazarus was and that he would spend eternity in heaven, as do all true believers. There was no reason for Him to feel sorry for Himself, having been left behind.
Besides all that, Jesus knew that He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. To Him, it was more that Lazarus was “asleep” than Lazarus was dead. He didn’t miss his friend, because He expected to see him again shortly. He even told His disciples that the only reason Lazarus had died was so that He Himself could raise Lazarus from the dead.