John 11.28-37.
One of the answers to the popular trivia question, “What’s the shortest verse in the bible?” is found in today’s passage. The shortest verse in the King James Version is the 9-letter “Jesus wept,”
Thing is, in the original texts, the 16-letter sentence
Enough bible trivia. Everybody remembers Jesus wept, but now let’s get to why. Because it tends to dumbfound people. Why’s he crying? Why’s he mourning
I’ve got a ridiculously simple answer to that question, and it’d occur to you immediately if you share that trait. Unfortunately too many Christians don’t, don’t care to cultivate it, and even consider it an undesirable weakness. And it’s not;
It’s all right there in the text:
John 11.28-37 KWL 28 Martha, after saying this,- goes and secretly calls her sister Mary,
- saying, “The Teacher is here and calls for you.¹”
29 When she hears this,- this Mary quickly rises up
- and is going to Jesus.ᴾ
30 Jesus hadn’t yet come into the village,- but is still in the place where Martha met him.
31 So the Judeans who are with Maryᴾ in the house,- comforting her,
- seeing how Mary quickly rises up and goes out,
- follow her,
- thinking she goes out to the sepulcher
- so she might weep there.
32 So when Mary comes to where Jesus is,- on seeing him, she falls to his feet,
- telling him, “Master, if you¹ were here,
- my brother would never have died.”
33 So when Jesus sees Maryᴾ weeping,- and those Judeans who came with her weeping,
- he’s outraged in spirit
- and stirred up within himself.
34 Jesus says, “Where did you² put Lazarus?ᴾ”- They tell him, “Master, come and see.”
35 Jesus weeps,36 so the Judeans are saying,- “Look how he loves Lazarus.ᴾ”
37 And some say back to them, “Wasn’t this Jesus,- who opened the eyes of the blind man,
- able to do something
- so that this Lazarus might not die?”
As it says in verse 33, when Jesus sees Mary and the crowd, he
Why was Jesus angry? Like I said, empathy: The crowd of Judeans wanted to know why Jesus could cure the blind, but couldn’t’ve cured Lazarus.
As for why he wept: Mary was weeping. So he wept with her. Because Jesus isn’t a compassionless, unfeeling dick. He’s a human being with the very same emotions we have, but he’s
Unempathetic commentators.
Whenever I tell people Jesus wept—and felt anger—out of empathy, most of the time they respond, “Oh. Duh.” Like I said, ridiculously simple answer. Empathetic Christians don’t even need me to give it; they immediately realize why Jesus wept. “Wow, he was really feeling what Mary was feeling.” Well exactly.
And yet I’ve lost count of how many sermons and commentaries totally miss empathy. Which exposes either the lack of empathy in these preachers and commentators… or how badly popular culture has affected them by how much it disrespects empathy, they deliberately overlook Jesus’s empathy, and repeat all the other explanations handed down over the centuries by Christians who cannot handle their own emotions.
Usually they figure Jesus was angry at the crowds for their lack of faith. George R. Beasley-Murray is a good example of this mindset.
Granting that the Evangelist reports Jesus as angry, what was the cause of his anger? V33 makes it plain: “When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping…” They sorrowed, as Paul put it, “like the rest of men, who have no hope,”
1Th 4.13 which is irreconcilable with faith in the resurrection. Despite the testimony of the Bible, despite the signs of Jesus wrought among them, which all bore witness to the life of the divine sovereignty that had come into the world through him, and despite the word that he proclaimed, with its emphasis on the promise of life now and hereafter, they mourned “like the rest of men.” It was this unbelief of the people of God in the presence of him who is the “Resurrection and the Life,” arrived among them to call their friend and brother from the grave, that made Jesus angry. The contrast between the Revealer who brought the word of God and lived by it and the recipients of it is startlingly exemplified here. The comment of G. Sass is in point: “So seen, the anger of Jesus becomes a question to our own faith” (Die Auferweckung des Lazarus, 53). Beasley-Murray,Word Biblical Commentary v30: John 193
How dare they mourn the death of a loved one, like a bunch of silly pagans who don’t believe in resurrection. Where’s their faith?
Now, if that’s the attitude you bring with you to a funeral, people are gonna wonder what in blazes is wrong with you. Have you no sympathy? Have you no heart? People are grieving. And it’s not like Christians aren’t told about our own resurrection every Easter; and it’s not like
Likewise the commentators who claim Jesus wept because he was play-acting for the benefit of Mary and the crowds. As if Jesus, who’s very outspoken against
Thankfully Beasley-Murray doesn’t say Jesus was play-acting. But he does say Jesus didn’t weep because he or Mary was sad; he wept because he was angry. Angry at the sad situation of our dark world, plagued by sin and death.
How, then, are the tears of Jesus to be interpreted? Certainly not through grief for Lazarus: his illness and death had been stated to be for the glory of God (v4), and Jesus was now advancing to his tomb to call him from it, not to weep beside it. It is possible that the tears were motivated by the unbelief that caused him anger (as Hoskyns strongly contended, 405). It is, however, perhaps more likely that they were brought about by the sight of the havoc wrought among people through sin and death in this world. It would be harmonious with what we know of Jesus in this Gospel if anger by reason of unbelief was balanced by grief over the tragedy of the human situation, from which not even the people of God can extricate themselves. So Schnackenburg: “The weeping here has no connection with the surge of anger.” Comparing such passages as
He 5.17, Rv 7.17, 21.4 he sees the reason for the tears to be the sadness and darkness of the present world, but compares it with the calm prayer of v41, just as the agitation of 12.27a gives way to the triumphant prayer of 12.27b (2:336–37). Beasley-Murray 193-194
If the commentators are to be believed, Jesus doesn’t share a single proper human emotion with humanity. All his feelings are purely academic. Kinda like theirs.
Following this interpretation, Jesus is angry with the crowds for being human and short-sighted, angry with the world for being fallen… basically he’s just angry.
The people who object to empathy, often try to pass empathy off as fleshly, as if it’s sinful to feel what others feel. After all, if their emotions are wrong, it might lead us astray. Why, we might want to spend money to help them out, and that would violate er… um… would just be wrong for some reason. No no; just rebuke ’em for feeling inconvenient things. Meanwhile keep yourself aloof. Don’t be compassionate. Don’t do for others as you’d have them do to you. Don’t
Yeah, they got problems. So it’s best to not follow their biblical interpretations.
Our compassionate Lord.
Jesus wept because Jesus loves. Because
Even if we’re down for the wrong reasons!—he’s gonna kindly correct us, show us the truth of the situation, and help us get over it in healthy ways. Not rage at us for being stupid, like an impatient father who hasn’t a clue he’s not helping—and doesn’t actually care; his rage is selfishly all about his frustrations.
Jesus wept because Mary wept; because the crowd wept. When friends are in pain, we weep. That’s normal and healthy. That’s a totally valid explanation. “They didn’t believe what Jesus wanted them to believe, so he wept in futility and rage” is not; that’s dysfunction.
And Jesus was used to the Judeans’ lack of faith. Plus we can’t honestly say Mary lacked faith. In fact her statement, “If you were here, my brother would never have died” reveals faith: She knew Jesus cures the sick. Now, she may not have had enough faith to believe Jesus was about to raise her brother, but there’s still
The crowd had a few sympathetic souls in it; they assumed Jesus was mourning the loss of Lazarus too. People weep when loved ones die, and nobody denies Jesus loved Lazarus. We know why Jesus wouldn’t feel any need to mourn Lazarus. But once we recognize Jesus also loved Mary, we’ll see exactly why he wept. Even though in just a few minutes, she’d be weeping instead for joy.
