By: Obed Pineda
Many are the theories that aim to “decode” a deeper meaning of the Bible’s shortest passage. Some say that the beloved disciple’s purpose for including that “Jesus wept” was to reveal His broken heart when He witnessed the incredulous and obdurate hearts of His fellow Jewish kinsmen at His friend’s funeral, knowing that it would inevitably result in their disastrous doom (cf. John 11:33-35). Others claim that the Lord sought to openly show His humanity to those present so that when He resurrected Lazarus there would be no doubt that He was simultaneously God and man, because none of the prophets who came before Him had ever raised a man from death after four days (cf. John 11:17, 39). Even though these two theories (and several others like them) sound right and seemingly fit, it is wise to remember not to ignore the full context of the verse and thus be careful not to look too deeply into it and be baited into reading our own ideas into Scripture. It is crucial to remember that one can only stand approved and confident before God when one is diligent in “rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2ndTimothy 2:15). It has been this author’s experience very often when studying Holy Writ that after carrying out a responsible exegesis of the passage (to the best of my ability) that the teaching found in the text is much simpler and direct than what I had anticipated or even imagined. Time and time again I have been humbled to learn that I had reached a mistaken conclusion (misguided by looking into the Scripture my own private interpretation and not God’s actual inspired content) that was much more complex than what the Spirit of God was teaching. It is in these moments when I recall the apostle’s proclamation, “let God be true but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4a). Therefore, upon examining carefully the full context of our text under consideration, it becomes evident that John had already provided his reason for stating that the Lord wept. When the Great Physician receives word that Lazarus was gravely ill, Holy Writ states that his sisters (Mary and Martha) “sent to Him, saying, ‘Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick’” (John 11:3). John (who was present when this event happened) corroborates the sisters statement by saying, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5). It is imperative to keep in mind that Jesus, too, explained to the twelve that Lazarus’ sickness (and death) would serve God’s purpose of confirming that He had been sent by the Father (cf. John 11:41-42). However, this by no means minimized Jesus’ love for His friends nor did it dull the pain He experienced for their loss. This would be exactly the case if one were to accept one of the previous two theories aforesaid. Those theories portray the Savior in a negative light exhibiting Him as being Who prioritized accomplishing His own goal at the expense of others’ grief and indifferent to it. Furthermore, John would be contradicting himself seeing that he emphasized that Jesus cherished greatly this family. In fact, it is this simple, yet marvelous, truth that John is solidifying when he wrote the Scripture being examined in this treatise. The Bible states that “when Jesus saw her weeping [Mary, Lazarus’ sister], and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled” (John 11:33, addition OP). The Son of Man was moved by what His holy eyes beheld; the deep sorrow His dear friend Mary was bearing for her loss. Although He knew that He was about to raise His friend from the grave, Jesus’ pure and true love for Martha and Mary is illuminated by His empathy and sympathy displayed by His shed tears. The profound love the Savior had for those three siblings was made manifest to all by the tears that streamed down His countenance, revealing His anguish for their mourning (cf. John 11:36). The apostle Paul assists in furthering our understanding by exhorting, “let love be without hypocrisy” (Romans 12:9a). It behooves us to bring into memory that the objective of the twelfth chapter of Romans is to indicate what a healthy relationship between members of the body of Christ is (cf. 1stJohn 4:20). Paul elaborates on the meaning of his instruction of what pure and untainted love toward one another is by declaring, “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). Because love is to be genuine and not in appearance only, the Spirit’s chosen penman verifies that “love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy…does not behave rudely, does not seek its own” (1stCorinthians 13:4a, 5a). True love for a brother or sister appears when we rejoice together with them for their accomplishments and victories, without being envious or jealous because they did so. The focus is on bonding in joy with one another, genuinely happy for that person’s triumph. It is true that rejoicing with a friend is easy to do since it involves celebration but this means that sharing in that same friend’s grief is much more difficult to do as well. The second portion of the command is to be a comforter and share in the sufferings of those who are in agony, and not rejoice cruelly or take pleasure in their downfall out of self-righteousness. Remember that hypocritical love is only concealed disgust or masked hatred toward a person. When the Son of Man shed His tears for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, He was weeping with those who wept, because He genuinely loved them. This was what the Jews who wept with Mary deduced exclaiming, “See how He loved him” (John 11:36)! It is also extraordinary to learn how powerful the cords of trust and friendship were between Jesus and Lazarus. Remember that Jesus had already told His twelve disciples that Lazarus’ sickness was for the purpose of glorifying God and Him as God’s only begotten Son, and it was why He allowed Lazarus to die (cf. John 11:4-15, 38-42). Through his death, Lazarus served God and aided Jesus in revealing Him as the Savior of the world. His death did not blunt the sharp edge of the heartache that his sisters and Friend experienced, yet their bonds of fellowship with Jesus were firmly soldered through that misery they shared for Lazarus (cf. John 12:1-8). Therefore, John reveals through this inspired writing the precious worth of learning to weep with those who weep, in the example of the Son of God. Moments like this one, captured by the Holy Spirit teaches us the value of allowing our fellow brothers and sisters into our hearts, but also entering into theirs. It reminds that we are to care for one another, for we “are the body of Christ” (1stCorinthians 12:18-27).