Series: Paradoxes of Jesus

#4: “Jesus, the Tearful God”

John 11:1-3, 17-29, 32-44 (esp. 33-35) GNT

By John Gill ~ March 10, 2024

If you have been in worship over the past several weeks, you know that we are in the midst of a sermon series on the Paradoxes of Jesus. To understand who Jesus is, and how we should live as followers of Jesus, we need to see how Jesus held seeming opposites in tension.

We’ve considered how Jesus was a Conservative-Revolutionary, a Gracious-Judge, and a Liberating-Master. This morning we will reflect on “Jesus, the Tearful God.”

Whenever you ask children in Sunday School to recite a verse of scripture from memory, you always have one precocious child who will say “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).

We sometimes trivialize this verse by joking about this being the shortest verse in the Bible, but in reality, there is nothing trivial about it. Those two little words may tell us more about the nature of God than any two words in the Scriptures. The words, “Jesus wept,” reveal a paradox of our faith – that our God (the almighty Lord of all creation) is a God who is capable of shedding tears!

“A Tearful God!” What a paradox! It boggles the mind to think that we have a God who can be driven to tears.

As you may know, most of the New Testament was written in the Greek language, the international language of the day (like English is today). Any Greek man or woman reading this story about Jesus would find this image of God shocking and incredible!

To the Greek way of thinking, the primary characteristic of a god was “apatheia” – what we would call “apathy” – which means: “the total inability to feel any emotion whatsoever.”

How did the Greeks come to attribute such a characteristic to God? They used logic. Their argument went like this: If WE can feel sorrow or joy, gladness or grief, it means that someone can have an effect on us. Now, if a person has an effect upon us, it means that, for a moment at least, that person has power over us. In other words, it is a weakness – a flaw.

NO one can have any power over a god; and so this MUST mean that God is essentially incapable of feeling any emotion at all.

The ancient Greeks believed in isolated, passionless, and compassionless gods who were distant, cold, unfeeling, and unconcerned with “mere humans.”

But what a strikingly different picture we see in our lesson this morning! – Jesus, God revealed in human form, overcome with emotion at the tomb of a friend.

The story uses three words to describe Jesus’ display of emotion that day, saying that 1) his heart was “touched” (or “troubled”); 2) that he was “deeply moved;” and 3) that he “wept.” So, let’s take a look at each of these three words…

First, Jesus’ heart was “troubled.” The Greek word here can mean several things: including agitation, confusion, or disorganization. Here it probably means “agitation,” in the same way that a storm “agitates,” or “troubles” a quiet sea. So John is telling us that Jesus’ soul was thrown into turmoil. He was “troubled.”

The second word is translated “deeply moved.” The Greek word in the original literally means “to snort like a horse,” and usually connotes angry tears.

Just WHAT Jesus was angry about is not specified, but it is clear that Jesus’ emotions got the best of him, and he broke down into sobs. The third word describing Jesus’ emotion was that he “wept.” This word simply means “to weep quiet tears.”

So, here we have the full-range of emotion: The troubled spirit – loss of composure – and weeping. Is THAT the kind of behavior appropriate for a god? It is, if your God is a “Tearful God” – a God who isn’t afraid to make himself vulnerable – a God who cares!

Or, as the scripture so simply and beautifully expresses it, “Jesus wept.”

But WHY did Jesus weep? What were his tears all about? That may not be as obvious as we might think.

Does Jesus weep out of grief for his friend, Lazarus? Certainly he loved him. The people who witnessed Jesus’ tears even commented about how much Jesus loved Lazarus. It’s clear as we look through the Gospels that Jesus had a very special relationship with this family.

It seems that, on his visits to Jerusalem, Jesus would often stay at their home in Bethany, just on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

In Luke’s Gospel, we have the wonderful story about the time Jesus visited Mary and Martha. Martha was busy serving Jesus, while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening to him teach. Martha reprimanded Mary for her laziness, you’ll remember. But Jesus intervened and told Martha that Mary had the right priorities.

You will also recall that, soon after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, this same Mary pours expensive ointment on Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her hair. Again, she is criticized, - this time by Judas - complaining about her wasteful extravagance. And again, Jesus intervenes and blesses her for her devotion, saying that she was preparing his body for burial.

Yes, there was a special closeness between Jesus and the three siblings in Bethany. I’m sure that Jesus felt sorrow and grief over the death of his dear and devoted friend.

And that’s good news for us! A God who is capable of tears is a God who cares deeply about what happens to each of us – especially when we face disappointment, tragedy, or death. Jesus tells us that God knows even when a sparrow falls to the earth. Then, how much MORE must he care about you and me!

But I DON’T think Jesus’ tears that day can ALL be explained by his grief. After all, Jesus knew full-well that God would answer his prayer, and Lazarus would live again.

In fact, according to the story (the part we didn’t read in our abridged form of our text), Jesus deliberately delays his return to Bethany so that Lazarus will be sure to be dead!

That seems cold and heartless to us – and it WOULD be – if Jesus did not fully believe that God would raise Lazarus to life. Yes, Jesus may have shed SOME tears of grief that day, but grief alone doesn’t explain Jesus’ weeping.

So, why does Jesus weep?

Could it be that he was weeping out of sympathy for the heartache of the two sisters he loved so much? The story tells us that it was when “when Jesus saw (Mary) weeping” that his heart was “troubled” and He wept with her.

Certainly, that is good news for us, as well! Isn’t it wonderful to think that God cries when we cry. As the Broadway musical reminds us, “You’ll never walk alone,” because God walks with us. Ours is a God who empathizes with our pain and anguish. When we are suffering, God suffers with us! When we are mourning, God mourns with us! When we are driven to tears, we do not cry alone!

Yes, it is wonderful to know that our God can cry along with us.

But again, I don’t think ALL of Jesus’ tears can be explained by saying that he wept out of sympathy alone.

He knew that soon, the miracle of Lazarus’ resuscitation would turn the sisters’ sorrow into unbridled joy. No. Jesus wasn’t crying only out grief or sympathy for the sisters – there was something more. But what?

Could it be that Jesus was weeping by the tomb that day out of self-pity? Now, before you dismiss this idea outright as being out of character for Jesus, remember where this episode comes in Jesus’ life:

In John’s Gospel, the raising of Lazarus from the dead becomes the occasion that precipitates all the events of Holy Week.

As soon as Lazarus is raised, the religious leaders plot to have Jesus put to death. Meanwhile, Jesus is anointed by Mary, “preparing him for his burial,” as Jesus foretells.

The VERY NEXT event for Jesus is his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. But before the week would be over, JESUS, not Lazarus, would be the body in the tomb.

So, you see, it MAY be that he wasn’t weeping so much for Lazarus, or with Mary and Martha - – but for himself!

Certainly, he was not looking forward to the pain and suffering he would have to endure! We remember how the other Gospels describe Jesus’ agonizing in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking that God allow the cup of suffering to pass from him.

Yes, Jesus may have been weeping for himself. But again, THAT doesn’t completely explain his tears, either. While Jesus agonized over the suffering which lay before him, it is clear that Jesus never questioned his place in God’s plan, nor did he doubt God would fulfill his promise to raise him on Easter morning.

So, if Jesus wasn’t weeping for Lazarus, or for the sisters, or for himself – who was he weeping for? Who causes Jesus to weep? WE DO!

This story is packed with contradictions – evidence of belief and unbelief; faith and faithlessness; trust and lack of trust; understanding and misunderstanding.

As Jesus draws to the end of his ministry, certainly he must have had high hopes that people would have a good grasp of who he is and why he came. But he must have been disappointed by how people misunderstood his mission. Even his closest friends don’t seem to “get it.”

For example: Jesus tells his disciples that he will delay his return to Judea so that Lazarus might be raised from the dead, rather than simply healed. Why? - “So that you might believe.” And yet, Thomas replies with unbelief: “Let us all go along with the Teacher so that we may die with him.”

And when Jesus arrives in Bethany, Mary and Martha exhibit remarkable faith: “If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died! But I know that, EVEN NOW, God will give you whatever you ask him for.”

But when Jesus says that Lazarus will be raised, Martha misunderstands. Then she makes that wonderful confession of faith: “I do believe that you are the Messiah who has come into the world.” Pretty remarkable!

But finally, when Jesus commands that the stone be rolled away, Martha shows that she still didn’t fully understand what she had - only moments before - proclaimed. She challenges Jesus’ judgment about removing the stone, concerned that the body would smell by now.

And Jesus responds with more than a little disappointment in his voice: “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believed?”

We shouldn’t be surprised that Jesus wept. He was so close to the climax of his time on earth – his ministry was quickly drawing to a close. And even those closest to him still didn’t have complete faith in him! It’s no wonder Jesus wept.

Very soon after this miracle is the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the day we call “Palm Sunday” – as we remember the joy of the crowds in Jerusalem when Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, as the people proclaimed Jesus to be their king. We usually think of this as a joyous occasion, the one bright spot in the darkness of that holy week.

But even that event drove Jesus to tears when he realized how the people misunderstood the kind of Messiah he had come into the world to be. In Luke’s account of the triumphal entry, he reports that, while the crowds cheered, “Jesus wept.”

The tragedy is that Jesus is STILL weeping. But this time, he weeps for you and for me. WE don’t believe as we ought to believe. WE don’t have as much faith as we should. WE don’t trust him completely. WE don’t understand fully. And Jesus is driven to tears - Why? – because he loves us so much.

You know, I’m GLAD that we have a Tearful God – a compassionate God with a heart for his people.

It is a constant reminder that, no matter what we must face in this life – even death itself – we never walk alone!

And THAT is “Good News!”