John 1: 35 Meaning And Commentary
John 11:35
Jesus wept. ] As he was going along to the grave, see as he was meditating upon the state of his friend Lazarus, the distress his two sisters were in, and the greater damnation that would befall the Jews then present, who, notwithstanding the miracle, would not believe in him. This shows him to be truly and really man, subject to like passions, only without sin.
The Cost Of Redemption
A third reason for weeping was the cost that he was about to pay to purchase not only Lazaruss short-term resurrection, but his everlasting life. The cross was just days away, and no one really knew the inner distress Jesus was experiencing . Lazaruss resurrection would look and be experienced by Lazarus and everyone else as a gift of grace. But, oh, it was not free. Jesus was going to die a horrific death to purchase it.
And the most horrific part was not crucifixion, as unimaginable as that alone would have been. He was dreading his Fathers wrath. Jesus, who had never known sin, was about to become Lazaruss sin, and the sin of all who had or would believe in him, so that in him they would all become the righteousness of God . He was looking to the joy that was set before him . But the reality of what lay between was weighing heavily.
Jesus Wept For Their Lack Of Faith
The second reason Jesus wept was because of the lack of faith He saw around Him. When Jesus first told His disciples they would head back to Judea, they reminded Him that the last time He was in Judea He was almost stoned. They were operating in fear and not faith. As they attempted to discourage Jesus from returning to Judea, Jesus responded:
Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your sake, I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him. So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
Jesus intentionally waited to go to Lazarus to bring God glory once Lazarus was raised from the dead. Still, the disciples planned to go to Judea with Jesus to die with Him. As weve already read, once Jesus reached Judea, Mary and Martha warned Jesus that its too late. Lazarus had been dead for days. There is no way, they believed, he can come back to life. When Jesus told Martha that He would still raise her brother, she reasoned:
Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?
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John 1: 35 Reminds Us God Empathizes With Our Pain
We have a God who has come to us. He knows what it means to be greatly troubled. He is able to identify and empathize with our hurt. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. We know that in Christ we will be with God forever.
Like I think about the moment when my brother called me and told me that my dad had just unexpectedly died of a heart attack. Man, Im doing it now. I just, I began to weep. I mean in that moment, I fell on the floor like uncontrollably sobbing, so overwhelmed with sorrow in a way that, yeah, is fresh even right now. Like death is sorrowful. Separation like that is sad, and its heavy, and it hurts.
Im guessing you have experienced this as well in some way, if you havent that you will. The good news of the Bible here in John 11:35 is that we do not have a God who is distant from us and our emotions, who is not able to identify with our hurt, and our pain, and our sorrow. We have a God who has come to us who is like us, Jesus like us in every way except without sin. He knows what it means to weep over the loss of a friend. He knows what it means to be deeply moved in spirit and greatly troubled.
Interpretation #4 Jesus Cried Knowing About His Death On The Cross
The interpretation of the verse Jesus wept is also a foreshadowing of Jesus crucifixion. Martha reminds him about healing Lazarus before his death and also expresses that he might have raised him from the dead immediately. However, Martha and Mary do not expect Jesus to bring their brother back to like after four days. During this discussion, Jesus is reminded of the main purpose on earth, which is to die on the cross. Thus, Lazarus death brought back the impending doom.
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Lord If You Had Been Here My Brother Would Not Have Died
Once word got to Jesus about Lazarus death, the Bible tells us He waited two more days before he headed to Judea to see Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
As the days passed the sisters lost hope. Jesus had not come soon enough. As their hope for their brothers resurrection faded, their grief grew more and more. Reality set in that their brother was gone and there was nothing anyone could do about it not even Jesus.
Once Jesus finally arrived, Martha explained:
Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
When Jesus met with Mary she came to the same conclusion:
Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
At this point, people had gathered with Mary and Martha as they mourned the loss of their brother. When Jesus heard their words and saw the sadness of the people around Him, the Bible tells us He became very moved and wept.
The two-word verse highlights the fact that the writer wants us to pause here for a moment. This weeping was not something to gloss over or ignore. It was intentional and packed with meaning.
So why the weeping? Here are three reasons why Jesus wept:
Jesus Wept John 1: 35
Two words. John 11:35 is an easy Bible verse to memorize, Jesus wept. But it is an awesome picture, reality, truth to contemplate.
Heres Jesus, God in the flesh, who is about to raise Lazarus from the dead, and he knows that hes about to show that hes the resurrection and the life. Hes about to bring his friend to life, those who people are mourning for. Yet before he does that, the picture here, Jesus is deeply moved in spirit, greatly troubled. Those are the words that describe how Jesus feels when he sees Martha, and Mary, and friends, and family weeping over Lazarus death. As they wept, he wept with them. He identified with their emotions, with their hurt, with their heaviness, with their sorrow.
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Interpretation #2 Jesus Was Hurt By The Delayed Arrival
The verse, Jesus wept can be interpreted as Jesus mourning while feeling guilty that he arrived late for his friends burial. The Bible says in the verses prior to John 11:35 that Martha and Mary, who were Lazarus sisters, sent word to Jesus about their brothers death. However, it appears that Jesus did not visit him immediately upon hearing the news. He, therefore, reached the place four days after Lazarus was already buried in the tomb. Thus, Jesus was grieving over not reaching out earlier to save his friend and help his sisters.
Lesson #1: Jesuss Tears Inspire Us To Follow His Example
There are many lessons we can learn from Jesuss tears. We can learn from Him and follow His example whenever we are in similar circumstances:
- When we find ourselves among people who are suffering, we should empathize and weep with them .
- When we see unbelief in others, we must still believe .
- When people reject us and the message of the Gospel we bring, we must not feel resentful or vindictive . We must feel sorrow for the sin that keeps them away from the one true God .
- When we suffer for Jesus, we must be confident in Gods plan . Even if we die, we know that when Jesus returns on the last day, He will resurrect us, and we will enjoy everlasting life with Him .
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We Should Weep Over Our Sin
Understanding some of these things that grieve our Lord should cause us also to weep and be grieved over several things. For example, we should weep over our sin and exhibit contrition for offending a holy and just God. Paul exhibited this type of godly sorrow when he wrote the following:
I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
When we do grieve over our sin in humility, the Lord will not reject us, as the psalmist wrote: For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heartthese, O God, You will not despise
. And again, we read in Isaiah 66:2 that God has said, But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.
Jesus Got Angry At Death
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.And he said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept.
God is not put off by your grief. Theshortest verse in the Bible is proof. Jesus wept . If it wasalright for the Son of God to weep over the death of his friend, Lazarus,surely its alright for you to cry too.
But what we typically miss here is that Jesus grief was mixed with anger. He was greatly troubled. This is important to understand, since it reminds us that death is unnatural. It disturbs us, and it should. But, as Christians, it should also deepen our appreciation of the victory Jesus secured on our behalf through his own death, burial, and resurrection.
But what, and who, was this controlled anger directed at? Death and the devil. Why did the sight of the wailing of Mary and her companions enrage Jesus? Warfield asks, and then answers his own question: The spectacle of the distress of Mary and her companions enraged Jesus because it brought poignantly home to his consciousness the evil of death, its unnaturalnessand burns with rage against the oppressor of men.It is death that is the object of his wrath, and behind death him who has the power of death and whom he has come into the world to destroy.What John does for us in this particular statement is to uncover to us the heart of Jesus, as he wins for us our salvation.
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Why Did Jesus Weep
The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35 it simply says, Jesus wept.
This verse is a stroke of genius. It says it all when there is little else to say. And it should cause us to pause and question, why did Jesus weep?
If you grew up in church, you know this verse, you know its backstory. But my guess is its become common place, you dont think much about the Jesus wept meaning. And I think we should pause here.
Think about this
Jesus, who was God in flesh, wept. He was so overcome with grief that he simply lost it. Not just a few tears He was uncontrollably sobbing.
The God of the universe wept over what you and I face. Thats mind boggling, at least it should be.
Our familiarity with this verse makes it more commonplace and less shocking. But this verse should take us back. These two simple words reveal the unique humanity of God.
This verse should cause us to pause, ponder, and question. Why did Jesus weep? And am I weeping for what Jesus wept for?
We will dive into those questions in just a minute, but first lets give this passage a deeper, more deserved look.
Jesus Wept Because He Knew The Sacrifice
A third reason for weeping was the cost that he was about to pay to purchase not only Lazarus short-term resurrection but his everlasting life. The cross was just days away and no one really knew the inner distress Jesus was experiencing. Jesus, who had never known sin, was about to become Lazarus sin, and the sin of all who had or would believe in him. He was looking to the joy that was set before him . But the reality of what lay between was weighing heavily.
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Lesson #: Jesus Grieved Over The Sin Of The People
Those three episodes when Jesus wept give us some examples of the consequences of sin that brought tears of sadness to our Lords eyes:
- The death of Lazarus was a reminder of the reality of death brought by sin. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death . Death first entered the world with the fall of Adam and Eve .
- The people in the city of Jerusalem sinned when they rejected Jesus.
- Jesus never sinned , but He paid the price of our sin and suffered its consequences Himself . Jesuss own death happened because of sin, our sin. Our loving Father gave His own Son to pay for them .
Sin was the underlying reason that brought those tears to Jesuss eyes.
What Does Jesus Wept Mean For Us
Therefore, the importance of Jesus wept is recorded in the Gospel of John. Jesus models for us that sorrow is something that needs to be felt. Grief is a part of life. Even though He knew that, in mere moments, Lazarus would be raised to life by Him, and that He would, one day, defeat death the final enemy Jesus still cried over the loss of His friend.
When the question arises, Why would God allow this to happen? It is a soothing reminder that Jesus did not like this about life. He became angry, He wept in the face of death. He, Himself, experienced death, a horrible, painful death on a cross, so that we may be with Him forever never having to experience death again .
Even though we have this hope that one day we will experience eternity with the Lord , it is ok to grieve, to feel sorrow, to feel angry about death, because Jesus did too.
Because Jesus wept he reminds us of the reality of death. Even though he knew Lazarus would rise again, he still felt the painful emotions associated with the passing of a good friend. Jesus’ tears also remind us of God’s goodness. Even though the world has gone very wrong, because of sin, it will not always be this way. We have hope.
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This Verse Leads Us To Praise Jesus
We pray in the midst of a world of sin, and sorrow, and suffering, and death. God, we praise you. Jesus, we praise you for your love for us, for your care for us, for your identification with us, for this picture of weeping with us when we hurt, when we walked through pain, that you are not distant from us, that you are with us, and that you intercede for us by your Spirit with groans that words cannot even express, Romans 8 teaches. So, we praise you.
We praise you for this, and we pray for your help. We pray for your help. I imagine there are some who are listening to this right now who have endured loss, have seen family member, friend, spouse, parent, somebody close to them die recently. God, I pray for your grace. Even if there was a reason, even if it was a long time ago and the hurt is still real and the grief is still there, please show your grace. Show your comfort, your strength and your peace.
As we look you, we pray for all these things and we praise you that you are the resurrection and the life. We praise you, Jesus, that death and sorrow did not have the last word, that weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. All glory be to your name. We praise you for this, and we pray that you would help us to make this good news known to people around us today before they die. In Jesus name, we pray, Amen.
How Is Lazarus Related To Jesus
Lazarus was one of the few friends of Jesus Christ who was mentioned by name in the Gospels. In fact, we’re told Jesus loved him. Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, sent a messenger to Jesus to tell him their brother was sick. … When Jesus finally arrived at Bethany, Lazarus had been dead and in his tomb four days.
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