Jesus Wept

​by Terry Magness
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“God is touched by the feelings of our infirmities, our sorrows,” said the preacher on the radio. It stands to reason that because Jesus was fully God and fully man, He felt and experienced what we feel. Perhaps we see this demonstrated in scripture when Lazarus, most likely His closest personal friend, died, and we read these poignant words, “Jesus wept.” 

Why did Jesus cry? Surely, the death of His friend brought human sorrow, as the radio preacher pointed out—or did it?  
 
Is it possible that Jesus was expressing the heart of His beloved Father through His tears? To the natural mind, it didn’t make sense for Jesus to wait two days until He knew Lazarus was dead before coming to Bethany. Why the delay? Jesus loved Lazarus.  
 
Jesus knew the Father’s plan! Hadn’t his disciples heard Him say, “I speak of what I have seen with my Father?”¹ “He that sent me is with me…for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”² “As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of Him who sent me.”³ “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.”⁴ I speak of what I have seen with my Father.”⁵ “All things have been handed over to me by my Father.”⁶  
 
When the messenger found Jesus and gave Him the news that Lazarus was deathly ill, Jesus said, “This illness does not lead unto death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it,”⁷ but no one really understood.  
 
Jesus deliberately waited until Lazarus was dead and buried before going to him! By the time Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus, whose body had been in the tomb four days, was in the process of decay. This was no surprise to Jesus, but rather, intentional timing, so why did He shed tears?  
 
Recall His disciple Phillip’s request to show them the Father.  
 
Jesus responded with intensity, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”⁸    
 
Jesus yearned for them to understand that in seeing Him they were experiencing the Father.   
“Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”⁹  
 
Looking back, we hear Jesus saying these words to His confused disciples, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.”¹⁰ His words were incomprehensible to these men.  
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by avid_creative, from Getty Images Signature

Martha was upset that He hadn’t come in time to heal her brother. When Jesus assured her that her brother would rise from the dead, she replied, “ 'I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.' Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?' ”¹¹

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We have no record of Martha’s reply. Martha and others believed there would come a day of resurrection of the dead. But Martha didn’t quite get it—and neither did her sister, Mary, the disciples, or the townsfolk. They knew the man. They knew of what He was capable--His miracles. They believed in Him as one sent from God to set up an earthly kingdom and deliver them from Roman oppression, and some believed that He was that expected Prophet or the Messiah. They loved and followed Him, yet they did not really know Him—His deity, Jesus, God incarnate! 
 
Yes, Jesus came to reveal God in a tangible, personal way. The people heard His words, they saw His authority and power in action, they experienced His love, and yet they neither saw, nor comprehended that God, The Resurrection and The Life, had come to live among them. Though unthinkable, even those closest to Him demonstrated what Jesus Himself called spiritual blindness and hardness of heart.

​And Jesus wept! ​

All scripture References are from the ESV Bible. ​

¹John 8:38 
² John 8:29 
​³ John 5:30  

⁴ John 6:38  
⁵ John 8:38  
​⁶ Matthew 11:27;  Luke 10:22​

 ​⁷John 11:4  
⁸John 14:9-10
​⁹ John 14:11  

¹⁰John 11:14-15  
¹¹John 11:24-26 

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Now an ordained AG minister, Terry Magness was once a broken, wounded, angry, and abuse-hardened woman, until God’s redeeming love confronted, delivered, healed, and transformed her life. In 1995, Terry founded Grace Harbour Ministries, a not-for-profit, Biblically based teaching, prayer, and discipleship ministry to women. Through Biblical counseling, coaching, and mentoring, she helps soul-wounded women come to know God in a personal way, conquer sin, overcome life challenges, and live Spirit-empowered lives. Throughout her global ministry she has witnessed God’s captive-freeing power at work. Terry has authored two books--Ever Increasing Grace and Azadiah Reynolds: God’s Jamaica Man—and three booklets in her Pocket Scriptures series. She  enjoys people, writing, photography, art, nature, and relaxing on the water while fishing with her quick-witted husband, Don, who keeps her laughing. Their amazing children and three priceless granddaughters remind them to be ever thankful for God’s  blessings.
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