"Jesus wept"

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MOC

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Mar 20, 2020
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Two of the four Gospels records that Jesus wept, the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of John contains the shortest verse in the entire Bible, "Jesus wept." The immediate thoughts upon reading the verse was that Jesus was deeply moved, revealing to us that He is Lord and also human. Jesus was demonstrating grief because of the love He had for humanity. The verse's meaning carries much weight in that it emphasizes Jesus' human traits. As recorded in Isaiah 53:3, He was genuinely "A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Our Lord had deep compassion for human suffering and took no delight in the affliction and grief itself. Also, its important to understand that Jesus' tears did not reflect the same hopelessness that was felt by Lazarus' friends and family.

John 11:35 "Jesus wept." Here, "wept" is used as a verb, meaning a shedding of tears and a deep grief. John recognizes and records this expression as a human emotion as well as affirming His Deity throughout his Gospel.

Luke 19:41 "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying if thou had known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." Jesus is sorrowful for Jerusalem knowing that there is still time to repent but few will do so. The city had rejected God's messengers for so long now, that the people couldn't discern their redemptive last chance. Jesus felt those with suffering hearts. His sympathy with human sadness is no less part of His nature than the union with Divine strength.

***When we read in God's word that we are to weep with those who weep, we can clearly see that our Lord demonstrated that kind of empathy,
Romans 12:15.Many question the reason why Jesus was weeping or showing His grieving emotions. Was it the deep compassion He had for those suffering? Was it the calamity of sin? Did Jesus weep because of their lack of faith? Many scholar believe that Jesus' groaning within Himself in John 11:35-38 was for the disbelief of the people and for death itself. Many of the people probably witnessed some of Jesus' miracles and questioned why He hadn't prevented Lazarus' death, thus Jesus weeps for their lack of faith. Also, many still would not believe even after Lazarus' miracle.

Ezekiel 33:11 God says, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live...." When trying to understand the reasons for Jesus' cries, we want to remember that God is not happy when unbelievers die in sin. Jesus' weeping and groaning is because death is a result of mankind's sin. God didn't want death, but because of Adam's sin, it was required. In raising Lazarus, Jesus showed them a small glempse of victory over death. When Jesus Himself died and then resurrected, He showed mankind the ultimate defeat of death! While we are still on earth, we should follow our Lord's example and cry over the things that make Him cry. May us all have a contrite spirit for our own sin and have hearts burdened for those who don't know Jesus Christ!