Jesus Wept

Jesus wept. This is often noted to be the shortest sentence in the bible. But the power of the sentence we cannot allow ourselves to casually drift by in our reading.

Actually, there are three times in scripture that speak of Jesus weeping. This is the first. The passage says the followers thought Jesus wept because he loved Lazarus. But that isn’t what the passage says. It says, “When Jesus saw Mary crying and the Jews who came with her also crying, he was upset and was deeply troubled.” It wasn’t the death of his friend that pained Jesus; instead, it was the tears on Mary’s face that brought tears to Christ’s. Jesus saw the sorrow and grief in Mary’s eyes and the faces of those who were with her. He was overwhelmed with emotion. He sympathized with their pain. His tears were tears of sympathy at the pain of another. This is very heartening for us. When we are in pain, when we struggle, and when we weep with the losses in our lives or the unfulfilled dreams that plaque us. Jesus weeps with us, too, as he did with Mary and her friends. His heart is moved to tears when we weep. Often, we wonder where God is when we suffer. He is right there in the middle of it suffering with us. Most often, he does not take our pain away but instead sits right in the middle of it with us and experiences the pain.

The second time Jesus is referred to as weeping is on what we celebrate as Palm Sunday. In the Gospel of Luke, it says that as they came closer to Jerusalem and Jesus saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 

Jesus was riding into the City of Jerusalem riding on a donkey, crowds were hailing him a king, throwing their cloaks on the ground in front of him and waving palms. But amid all this glory, Jesus breaks down in sobs. 

Many think he wept because he knew the fate that awaited him. But perhaps it was actually crying out of intense sorrow. His sorrow was that they didn’t accept their opportunity for salvation. He did know what was to come. But he wept for the lost opportunity for the people of Jerusalem to understand. And to accept Him as the Son of God.

We can look at our world and the many ways our society fails to accept the message of love and salvation. I imagine Jesus continues to weep in sorrow for the lost souls and the missed opportunities to love today.

The third time Jesus weeps is in the Garden of Gethsemane. Just a few days later, after his last supper with his friends, he went out to a garden. I imagine the evening was clear, the stars brilliant and the breezes warm. In the middle of this most peaceful scene, Jesus faced his greatest struggle, and he did so in tears. The absolute humanity of Jesus is made manifest in that Garden. He didn’t enter the Garden to escape death or to hide from it, he went there to prepare for it. That preparation meant making the most critical decision in the history of the world. As he wrestled with the decision before him, he broke down in tears. He was about to die. God was about to die. I cannot even begin to wrap my heart around that; I am not sure anyone can. What do those tears in the Garden teach us? We face life’s challenges, we struggle with our own decisions, and our faith is tested. It is then that we must lift up our tear-stained face toward heaven and say, “Father,” and know, without doubt, the God of the universe turns his head and bends his ear to listen.

Jesus wept in sympathy at the tomb with Mary. He wept in sorrow at the lost city of Jerusalem. And he wept in the Garden for a world filled with people who would always struggle to find and live the way that brings us to the Father.

Sometimes all we can do is weep, and in our weeping, we know he has walked this road before us and is with us even now.