John 11:35

My 2 cents worth:

1. Jesus wept (edakrusen) because of the gravity of the moment and not because Lazarus died, for Jesus was going to raise him.

2. But on other occasions Jesus expressed "loud cries and tears[dakruwn]" (Heb 5:7, ESV).

 

Precisely so, for the gravity of the moment. You got it. You said it better than I could. :thumbs:

 

I think the gravity of the moment was also based upon the realization of what sin has done to His creation.

I think part of his weeping had to do with this.

 

I think he was hurting with those he loved so dearly.

 

I fully agree with this. I am comforted by this verse when I cry or am hurting because this shows me Jesus is right there hurting with me. It reminds me I am not alone no matter how it seems at the time.

 

We don't completely understand how Jesus could be fully God and fully human, but it is clear teaching of scripture.

Seems to me that Jesus' grief was a normal human emotion.

When I see Jesus face to face, I'm going to ask him about all that. The rest of you will have to wait in line because I have a thousand years or so of questions for him to answer.

 

John 11

You ask, “Why did Jesus weep?”

I see lots of reasons.

Yes he wept because of those he loved. He wept because he saw the pain of Mary and Martha. Yet look at verses 33 and 38, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. This was no silent tear but turmoil and emotion within the spirit of our lord.

He wept because of their unbelief. He wept because Mary, although she believed he could heal did not believe he could still raise Lazarus from the dead. He wept because of the crowd and their unbelief as shown in v 37.

All of these are valid reasons to weep, but not for the groaning within himself. There is more here. First off, Jesus is human now, he has always been God, but now he is one of us. Have you ever been to the funeral of a teenager killed in an accident? Have you seen the pain and sorrow among their friends? Why is their pain so much greater than ours? That first great loss, that first death of someone ‘our’ age, the finality of facing death for the first time in our lives is always worse. By the time we have become adults we have become accustomed to death. We have lost friends and we know that death waits us as well. Jesus now stands before death’s door as a man. As a man facing his own death just days away, knowing what awaits him and experiencing death as a man. Of course he cried.

But there is more. For 4000 years death had stalked God’s creation. For 4000 years sin had ruled and men had died. Since the days of Able men and women had gathered and mourned their loved ones and surrendered to the finality of death and the grave and for 4000 years God had done nothing. In just a few short days Jesus would turn that upside down, but he had not yet. 4000 years of watching his children hurt, 4000 years of grief and pain and loss, 4000 years of tears, and during all that time God sat and watched and waited. Now, so close to the end, so close to victory, men still died and families still cried. I believe 4000 years of pain and grief and sorrow all came to the surface of Christ’s mind at that time, and yes, of course he cried tears.

At lest that’s mho

 

Excellent thoughts! :thumbs:

 

Could there have been a break between verses when Jesus cut up some onions?

 

I have a lilttle bit different take on it.

This is one of the "sign miracles" in which people are "types." If you remember an earlier time, Martha was in the kitchen tending to duties (she, therefore, typifies the OT saints who didn't know about Christ) while Mary was at Jesus feet (tribulation saints who will know Christ though still under the OT).

Jesus wept knowing what Mary must go through before the postrib resurrection of which Lazarus is a type of resurrected OT saint.

Notice several of the clues here: 1) Martha tells Jesus she knows about the resurrection but she is unaware that Jesus IS the resurrection. 2) Notice that Lazarus had been dead 4 days (hypothetically 4000 years from Abraham or perhaps Mt Sinai to the MK) but 3) Jesus didn't start coming to him until 2 days were left (ostensibly, till 2000 years after His crucifxion). 4) Notice that Martha meets Him first but says the same thing as Mary -- "If you had come earlier..." Neither knew His presence in their day. 5) Notice that when Lazarus is raised, several days later (post judgment seats) he is dining with Jesus (wedding feast, Rev 19-20).

He didn't weep for Martha but He did for Mary -- and that's why.

skypair

 

Amen!

We have a suffering Christ who suffers along side of those who suffer and a weeping Christ weeps along side of those who weep.

We have a God who not only can create, judge and destroy the universe, but through the incarnation, can also intimately identify with his creation on so many levels.