Jesus Wept

John 11:1-45

Most of us who have gone to Bible camp have had the conundrum of having to pick a Bible verse to memorize. I remember most of the kids picking either John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son…” or the shortest verse of the Bible, John 11:35 “Jesus wept.” RSV translation. It is quite puzzling this verse. Why would Jesus weep when he knew exactly what was going to happen. As the story goes, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, he knew that Lazarus’ illness would not lead to death but to the glory of God and so he stayed two days longer in the place in the place where he and his disciples were staying. A few days later just before Jesus and his disciples leave for Judea, Jesus says them, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so you may believe. But let us go to him.” (11:14-15)


Now, Mary and Martha are at home mourning the loss of their brother Lazarus. They do not understand why Jesus had not immediately come to them when they sent a messenger to let him know that Lazarus was ill. Jesus was their close friend. Surely, they thought, Jesus would come not only because he loved Lazarus, but also because he knew that Mary and Martha depended on Lazarus for their very livelihood. Women at that time could not live without a male to head their household. If Lazarus died, they could lose everything they have, their home, their farm, their money to the nearest living male relative because women were not allowed to own property.

In the days following Lazarus’ death Mary and Martha sit shiva for their brother. This is a Jewish tradition of mourning where all regular activity is interrupted and immediate family members do not leave their house for seven days to mourn the loss of their relative. Imagine how angry Mary and Martha were by the time Jesus meandered into Bethany with his disciples. Martha was so angry that she broke shiva, she left the house, ran out of the village and confronted Jesus on the street. In her pain she grabs his shirt and shakes him, chastising him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (11:21) She thought that if Jesus had come when he first heard word of Lazarus’ illness, that he could have prevented his death. But even as she is accusing Jesus of neglect she also leaves open the possibility that something could still be done, “But even now I know God will give you what ever you ask of him.” (11:22) We don’t know what she was asking for, perhaps some guarantee of security for her and her sister Mary now that they are without a man to take care of them.

Jesus tells her , “Your brother will rise again.”

Well duhh!!! Martha thinks to herself, “I know he will rise again, we all will on the last day when we are in heaven.” But Jesus goes on, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Martha has an ah ha moment, something clicks and she gets what is happening. She confesses her faith “Yes Lord, I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” She goes home to get Mary.

When Martha told Mary privately “the teacher is here and is calling for you.” (John 11:28) Mary got up and went to where Jesus was, quite angry and ready to give him a piece of her mind. Her friends follow her out of the house thinking that Mary was going to mourn at Lazarus’ grave. When she sees Jesus, she is so overcome with emotion, she collapsed at his feet and wailed to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved…Jesus began to weep.” (John 11:32-33, 35) Some note that is unusual for the author of the Gospel of John to make so many references to Jesus’ humanity, his being upset, his being effected by another person’s emotions and his crying because the emphasis of this particular gospel is about Jesus’ divinity. (1) Yet in spite of his divine self, the humanness of Jesus overcomes him and Jesus wept. The Jews think Jesus was weeping because he lost a close friend, but they don’t know what Jesus was thinking. Perhaps Jesus was crying out of frustration, angry at Martha and Mary’s disbelief. Perhaps he was crying because he though God was cruel to cause Lazarus to die just to prove a point. Perhaps Jesus knew the consequences of what he was about to do, that in his rising Lazarus from the dead, the religious authorities would become threatened and begin to plot to put Jesus to death.

Yet in spite of the obstacles which included the possibility of his own death, Jesus knew what he needed to do. Jesus ordered that the stone to be rolled away and called out, “Lazarus, come out!” and Lazarus came out of the tomb still bound by his wrappings. Jesus then told the people, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (11:44b)

What is interesting is how the different characters in this gospel story react to this situation. The disciples as always are clueless and in the beginning Mary and Martha are clueless too. The disciples and the sisters are only thinking of the obstacles whereas Jesus thinks of the possibilities. At the beginning of the story when Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples responded in fear “The last time we were in Judea you made the people so mad that they tried to stone us and you want to go back again?!?” But Jesus wasn’t thinking about the threats but rather the possibilities to bring about new life. When Jesus encountered Martha and Mary, the sisters are so consumed with their grief and anger that they yelled at Jesus. When Jesus spoke of resurrection the sisters think that he’s talking about heaven whereas Jesus is speaking of the possibility of new life in their present day. The disciples and the sisters are bound up in the grave cloth of their anxiety, their hopelessness, and their fear and Jesus tells them to unwrap their bindings with the hope of life and resurrection. Jesus wept, not because Lazarus had died, but because his friends are unable to see beyond the obstacles.

In my ministry I have encountered people who are unable to see the possibility of new life. They were bound in various ways. The man addicted to alcohol, living on the streets, unable to see life without drinking. The gang member recovering from a gunshot wound, unable to see life beyond the age of twenty one. The woman living in an abusive relationship, unable to see her worth. The government contemplating deep cuts to social programs, unable to see the abundance in other places. It is because of these that we the church is called to share the possibility for resurrection and life when the obstacles of fear and hopelessness get in the way. That we as a community of faith find ways to release persons and communities from the bindings of addiction, violence, hatred and greed, to tear away the wrappings of fear, anxiety, loss, and grief so that unbound women, men and children might be released from the clutches of death and begin new life. (2) May it be so. Amen.

(1) Frances Gench, “The Gift of Life.” Encounters with Jesus: Studies in the Gospel of John. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007), 88.


(2) Veronice Miles “John 11:1-45: Pastoral Perspective.” Feasting on the Word: Year A Lent Through Eastertide. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), 144.