Jesus Wept

John 11: 32-34

“32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.”Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

As a youth in Sunday School, the teacher would periodically ask each of us to quote a bible verse by memory.  Everyone in the class wanted to be the first to be called upon so that we could quote John 11: 35, “Jesus wept.,” the shortest verse that we knew by memory.  

At the time, we did not stop to think what this meant; that the Son of God wept.  Even today, we read it and the words sort of roll over us.   But, think of it; the Son of God was so moved that he wept.

Jesus brought us the good news that God cares, and cares enough to send His son to earth to walk among us, to share our joys and our hardships, to weep with us in our sorrow, and then to die for us.

Mary fell at His feet and wept.  The people wept all around her.

And Jesus, the Son of the one true God, divine yet human, stood among them...

Weeping.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)