![]() ![]() Unbeknownst to the sisters, Jesus had to wait to fulfill the Scriptures and the prophecies about the Messiah. This family was made of two sisters, Mary and Martha, and their brother Lazarus.Īt the beginning of the chapter, they ask Jesus to come quickly to see them, because Lazarus was sick. He had friends in the town of Bethany, which was situated outside of Jerusalem in what is now the West Bank area. Surrounding this small verse is one of the important accounts of the life of Jesus Christ. What Is the Context of Around John 11:35? Jesus was humble to the point of shedding His glory, coming down from Heaven, and even humble enough to cry with people in mourning. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” ( Philippians 2:5-8). In fact, Paul wrote, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Jesus being willing to cry demonstrates this misplaced pride is not appropriate. Some people do not allow themselves to grieve out of misplaced pride. They fake joy in moments when they should feel upset. Some Christians suppress their emotions, or mistakenly believe because there are verses which make statements such as, “Rejoice in the Lord always again I will say, rejoice,” ( Philippians 4:4) that it is sinful, wrong, and inappropriate for them to grieve. ![]() For people, it does show that it is okay to grieve, to process strong emotions and terrible situations, and to cry. Despite living a perfect life, standing before a tomb, He cried. The Lord Jesus lived a perfect life, overcoming sin, suffering, and even death itself despite being clothed in flesh and subject to human weaknesses. Jesus wept because He experienced and understood the same feelings as the people around Him. He did not weep because He was uncertain of His ability to do this miracle or because He feared Lazarus would stay dead. Jesus knew the will of God and that Lazarus would be returned to life. The Book of John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” ( John 1:1). Because Jesus is God the Son, He is one with God, and even participated in the Creation of the world with the Father and the Spirit. Its deeper implications touch on the complicated nature of Jesus Christ. The direct meaning of this verse is simple, when He went to the tomb of Lazarus, He shed tears. Have encouragement delivered straight to your inbox! What Does it Mean that 'Jesus Wept'? For those left behind, there will be tears, but Jesus understands and is there to provide comfort and hope. By understanding that even the Lord Jesus grieved, experienced sorrow, and felt the weight of loss, this gives believers permission to feel sad when a loved one passes away, even though believers who die go to be with the Lord and will be resurrected bodily one day when Jesus returns. It is salvation for the whole man and for every man and the sorrowing heart of humanity has never seen more clearly the divinity of the Son of Man than when it has seen His glory shining through His human tears.It reveals aspects of His human nature, though He was God incarnate, as well as His great care for the people He came to save. A "God in tears" has provoked the smile of the stoic and the scorn of the unbeliever but Christianity is not a gospel of self-sufficiency, and its message is not merely to the human intellect. John's Gospel is "The Word was made flesh," and He is for us the Resurrection and the Life, because He has been manifested to us, not as an abstraction which the intellect only could receive, but as a person, living a human life, and knowing its sorrows, whom the heart can grasp and love. Men have wondered to find in the Gospel which opens with the express declaration of the divinity of our Lord, and at a moment when that divinity was about to receive its fullest manifestation, these words, which point them still to human weakness. He is conscious of the power which He is about to exercise, and that the first result will be the glory of God ( John 11:4) but He is conscious also of the suffering hearts near Him, and the sympathy with human sorrow is no less part of His nature than the union with divine strength. They are on the way to the sepulchre, near to which they have now arrived. ![]() The present word means not the cry of lamentation nor the wail of excessive grief, but the calm shedding of tears. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(35) Jesus wept.-The word is different from that which is used to express weeping in John 11:33 but this latter is used of our Lord in Luke 19:41. ![]()
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