Jesus Wept (The Teacher's Tears)

John 11:28-37

When she said this, she left and called her sister Mary, secretly saying, “The Teacher is here and is

calling you.” When she heard this, she immediately got up and went to Him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village; He was still at the place where Martha had met Him. The Jews who were with her in the house and were comforting her saw that Mary had quickly left and went after her, thinking she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was, she saw Him and fell at His feet, saying, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Seeing her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They replied, “Come and see, Lord.” Jesus wept. The Jews remarked, “See how much He loved him!” But some of them said, “Couldn’t this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying?”

Thus heartened in her faith, Martha left Jesus to fetch her sister Mary from home.  She went “secretly” so as not to draw the others' attention. As Jesus stood outside, the others, however, followed. On seeing Jesus, Mary fell at His feet in respect, reverence, worship – blurting out endearingly to their “Teacher/Master, “If only you had been here …”  Jesus saw Mary weeping … and the Jews also.  Here is a funeral scene of communal heartfelt grief and sorrow (consoling v.31, weeping v.33). “Shared joy is double joy, shared grief is half a sorrow, goes the Swedish proverb.  Deeply moved in Spirit, Jesus wept, 11:36—the shortest verse in the English Bible, the weightiest of reactions seen of Jesus.

Recorded previously, when Jesus met with Martha, the Divine Word of God comforted her with profound doctrinal truth that He was the resurrection and the life, 11:25. Now with Mary (“Lord, come and see”) as her loving “Teacher” and “Lord”, the divine God-man, expressing His full humanity – Jesus wept!

“The onlookers pondered: why had He not prevented Lazarus from dying? In a moment or two, they would soon know!

It is noteworthy that there are two different Greek words translated as ‘weep’, ‘weeping’, ‘wept’ used by the author John in this passage. Jesus ‘wept’ (dakryo) is used only once in the entire New Testament.  Mary and the mourners ‘weep’, ‘weeping’ (klaio) occurs three times in John 11, eight times in the Gospel of John.  The shedding of tears by Jesus in John 11:35, accordingly, has been interpreted in several different ways. Jeremiah 31:3, “I will turn their mourning into joy.  I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing.”

Isaiah 61:2,3: “… to comfort all who mourn … giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of fainting.” Note: ‘ashes’ expresses mourning and loss;  ‘ashes’ is the mortal flesh, as in “dust to dust, ashes to ashes.”

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN “BE LOVED”

THE WAY OF MY GOD.

A Commentary Laurence Wed-Chung Wedderburn