Jesus wept. John 11:35

This is a most curious verse when the time is taken to ponder the ramifications. It is not curious in that the Master is compassionate, or is subject to emotional influences as are we, but, rather, in the circumstance that caused His weeping. When we begin to grasp why Jesus wept, we begin to understand how the Holy Spirit moves in our spirit-man to perform God's work. Not having a proper understanding of what caused Jesus to weep, many believers come to shallow or even false conclusions. Understanding why Jesus wept will lead the careful, truth-seeker to greater versatility in the hands of the Lord. We are soon to enter a very dark period in human history, and only the mature, oil-soaked believer will shine forth as a glowing testimony to the miracle-working Gospel of Jesus Christ. Only those who have been schooled in the gift of discernment of spirits will know the Lord's directives and accomplish His will.

Why did Jesus weep? To comprehend this concept, we first have to eliminate the superficial notions many have mistakenly attributed to the Lord Jesus for this remarkable display.

John 11:1 NOW a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha... 3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.... and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.

13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that His beloved friend, Lazarus, was gravely ill-- to the point of death. They fully expected He would drop whatever He was doing and come to meet their urgent need before it was too late. Things in Judea were risky for Him, for He had managed to offend almost every recognized religious authority, thus He was a wanted man. Even so, Mary and Martha believed it urgent enough to ask Him to come and risk His life for the sake of their dying brother.

Jesus sat calmly with His disciples as the runner delivered the message, giving no indication that He was worried about Lazarus' condition. It is hard for us, knowing the end of the story from the beginning, to place ourselves in that contemporary scene and grasp the full impact of transpiring events. The disciples had no idea Jesus was purposely waiting for Lazarus to die so He could raise him up. Nor did Mary and Martha have any notion that the Lord was not limited in His healing to the living only, but that He could reach beyond the grave and actually bring someone back. To His disciples, as well as the sisters of Lazarus, it seemed imperative, for Lazarus' sake, that Jesus arrive there before Lazarus slip away. True, the disciples had seen Jesus raise the dead, such as Jairus' daughter and the only son of the widow of Nain, but those cadavers had just expired. Someone dead for a greater amount of time presented a seeming insurmountable challenge.

Jesus, knowing that the Father intended to use this situation to expand the faith of the disciples, waited calmly for the Spirit's leading. Had He reacted to other's expectations of Him instead of waiting on the Father, He would have been wrong. One of the most powerful demonstrations of His authority and ability to be a vessel for God's power would have been thwarted. Being led of the Spirit is not just recognizing a need and doing all we can, as son as we can, to meet that need. We need to be sensitive to what the Lord wants done no matter what pressures are put on us to perform up to other people's expectations. How many times do we publicly pray for someone, laying hands on, even when we have no sense of the Lord's leading to do so, merely because it is expected in that church or gathering? Peer pressure to prove how spiritual we are is brought to bear, and we find ourselves 'performing' , but without results. It is not from faith we are praying, but from a sense of false obligation. Remember, faith is first and foremost hearing God, then obeying; it is not conjuring up something for God to do, and twisting His arm with 'faith' till He performs for us. How often do we utter prayers out of God's will or time to meet that need? How often do we react instead of sitting still and waiting for the Spirit to lead? It was not the Father's will for Lazarus to be healed before he died, and Jesus alone knew that.

We tend to put our own limitations on God, thinking that if such and such a thing doesn't happen by such and such a time: it will be too late, or, we'll have missed God, or, He failed our expectations. We forget that God is the God of resurrection! He manages to salvage things after they have gone beyond our limitations! By our jumping up in knee-jerk reactions to every call for prayer or perceived need, we often oppose what God has engineered to accomplish His will. We severely dent our own faith, and that of new believers, when, what we claim 'in faith' (few dare call it presumption) fails to materialize, all because we think we can command God.

It probably caught the disciples off guard when Jesus announced it was time to go to Lazarus-- he was dead! A careful study of the Gospels shows how Jesus takes a person's faith from where it is and challenges them to grow even more. This was the final course for His trainees who would soon be commissioned to raise up the Church. They needed to know that he was Lord of all-- even beyond this life.

17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:

19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.

21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask God, God will give it thee.

23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.

24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Lazarus had been dead four days. That means it was a two day journey from where they were. The funeral was still going on even though the deceased was in the vault, as per the custom. When Martha heard that Jesus was come, she jumped up immediately to go see Him-- without even informing her sister Mary. Many misunderstand what Martha is asking of the Lord, thinking that she is asking Him to raise him up from the grave. but that is not at all in her list of possibilities as vs 24 indicates. She was more likely asking for Lazarus to be assured a place in God's kingdom, believing that Jesus as the Messiah, had great persuasive ability with God. When Jesus told her plainly that her brother would rise, she immediately assumed He meant the resurrection of all the dead at the Great White throne Judgment, not that he would arise from his grave that very day. It was too late for that. He had died and was already in a state of advanced decomposition. But Jesus meant that very day would see Lazarus again walking and talking with them. The resurrection is not merely a future event, it is a Person! All that the resurrection will be is wrapped up in Who and What He is! And He was right there in person. He is life and the source of Life. He is the representation of all God's truth in human form. Jesus was (and is) God's promise of eternal life.

25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

There is the rub. This is where Adam and Eve failed, and Abraham and Moses faltered. Did they fully believe God's promise? Adam and Eve chose to believe the Lie in spite of all the evidence their five senses provided as to how absolutely trustworthy God is. Since then, mankind has had to believe God against the evidence of his senses, taking it on faith alone. Abraham obeyed the promise-- until a famine came and threatened their material goods, resulting in Sarah nearly becoming the wife of another man. Moses disobeyed and struck the rock instead of merely speaking to it, not reverencing God's word as immutable, holy and indisputable. It was imperative that Jesus put the question to Martha bluntly, demanding a statement of her faith in the impossible claim He had just made. Jesus was taking her level of faith and commitment to Him to a higher level. No longer was it a question of where Lazarus was placed in the afterlife, or even in the future resurrection. Jesus was challenging her to an absolute, complete trust in Him as the fulfillment of all God's promises.

27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.

Martha was not sure she wanted to go that high. Her confession to believing Jesus was the Christ, the predicted Son of God, lacks recognition of the intensity of what Jesus has just revealed. He has just declared that He, Himself, is the Resurrection, and the source of all life! The doctrine of the resurrection was taken out of the future where she could comfortably speculate about it, and brought up close and personal. Would she make the stretch and believe that He could restore life to a rotting corpse? That she did not understand His intentions, nor expect Him to actually bring Lazarus back from death is borne out in vs 39 where she objects to the stone being rolled away because of the stink. So, mumbling a confession only to what she could believe, she then excused herself and scurried off to inform her sister that Jesus had come and wanted to see her, ostensibly to mourn at the graveside with them. She was taken to the point of credibility, but could not go beyond what she could grasp with her own mind. She believed Jesus was the Messiah-- whatever that might entail. She did not want to come face to face with the specifics of that claim, they might overwhelm her. Let Mary deal with it.

29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.

30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.

31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.

32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

Mary, and the crowd following her, found Jesus where Martha had left Him. She greeted Him with the same accusation her sister had. But Mary was prostrate at His feet, accepting whatever He decided, not challenging him, or accusing Him of a lack of love. Martha's initial attitude was one of 'Since You weren't here to save his life, at least do what You can to make it comfortable for him where he is.' Mary simply trusted His judgment, as is evidenced by her laying at His feet, a symbol of submission. It hurt her deeply that her brother had died, especially since it might have turned out otherwise, but she would bear her grief.

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

Now we come to the crux of why Jesus wept. Was it because Lazarus died, as the mourners supposed? Categorically not! He purposely waited until Lazarus was expired so He could raise him from the dead. Then was it because of the sorrow of the mourners? That is highly unlikely since He knew He was going to raise his friend up-- to their great astonishment. When we know a wonderful, but secret event is about to happen to someone we love, we do not join them in their sorrow, but are joyful at the turn of events that is about to take place and delightfully surprise them. What, then, causes Him to weep? Could it be their unbelief, as some commentators suggest? It is hardly conceivable that the Master of Heaven and Earth should be so weak and emotional as to let the unbelief of the people present bring Him to tears. Besides, he has not let anyone know His intentions to raise Lazarus. Was it the sinful condition of mankind vividly brought to His attention by the death and decomposition of his dear friend, as other commentators state? That also is highly unlikely, since he has been dealing with man's sin and the consequences since He walked out of the wilderness. No, none of these things seems to adequately explain why our Lord was moved to tears. They are based on an emotional, humanistic level, and nothing our Lord did was based simply on emotions. Not that emotions were not involved in Jesus' life, for to be a whole person one must also have healthy emotions. But rather emotions did not ever dictate His actions, including weeping.

When John states that Jesus groaned, and was troubled in His spirit, we find a reference to something other than His soul. Jesus began to be stirred up in His spirit. The word translated as 'troubled' is more accurately translated 'stirred up'. Jesus sensed in His inner man that the Holy Spirit was building up an unction of unparalleled power to be released in a burst of miraculous authority in raising Lazarus from beyond death. this miracle was going to take more anointing than even He had employed previously. We know from other scriptures that Jesus often replenished His anointing by passing the night in prayer in order to continue His ministry of healing, and that He literally felt the healing power (virtue--Mark 5:30) pass from Him to a woman who merely touched His garment. Now the greatest miracle yet was about to take place, the total rejuvenation and resurrection of a man four days dead, in Mediterranean heat. The power being built up in His human frame was almost more than He Himself could stand, and He began to weep under the pressure of the burden He now carried. He knew by the internal pressure that the time was now come to deliver this power that would reconstitute Lazarus and bring him to life.

34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him

37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?

38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave.

Again , it is not emotional in its source, but only in expression. This miraculous power peaking within Jesus is stirring Him so powerfully that He groans under the immensity of it even as He approaches the gravesite. He is not reacting to their misguided concepts, for that would indicate that He could be influenced by what others thought of Him. He is, rather, under a tremendous impetus to deliver life to the man recently passed on and out of human existence. The Holy Spirit revealed to Him some four days ago that He was to raise Lazarus, and now the time has come for the fulfillment of that promise.

It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

The moment of truth has come, Jesus utters His command, and the going forth of that command in the spiritual realm is so strong that Jesus' physical frame has to release it with a loud shout. John is not given to overstatement, so when he says Jesus cried out with a loud voice, it was more than just a casual calling out "Oh say, Lazarus-- come forth!" Instead, with every muscle and nerve in His being trembling under the unction and release of that power, the command bellows forth with supernatural intensity, "LAZARUS, COME FORTH!"

44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.

Jesus exercised all the gifts of the Spirit available to us, including tongues (Luke 10:21), and as such demonstrates the proper usage of those gifts. Here we find preserved for us the marvelous account of perhaps, the most dramatic miracle the Lord performed prior to His own resurrection. Every thing He did after His baptism was by the leading and empowerment of the Holy Spirit so His life could be an example to us, His followers. He had laid aside His own power and glory, receiving it back only just before going to the cross. So His raising of Lazarus was done by a gift of the Holy Spirit as were all His other healing, miracles, and teachings.

Now, I know that the above understanding of the raising of Lazarus is controversial, nevertheless, I whole-heartedly believe this is the proper understanding of why Jesus wept. Two separate occasions in my own life pointed this passage out to me after I had been used to pray for someone's healing. The first was when I came home from work and was informed by my wife that President Reagan had been shot. Now, although I was sympathetic with Republican causes and liked President Reagan, I had no particular reason to respond the way I suddenly found myself doing. I was seized with a sudden and inexplicable grief that my mind couldn't grasp, but I knew in my spirit that I had to go right away and pray for his life to be spared. I went into our bedroom and began to weep in loud, anguished outcries. In my mind I was embarrassed at the commotion I was making, and tried to stifle the noise by burying my head under a pillow as I besought the Lord to spare Mr. Reagan. My small children were frightened by my strange, erratic behavior, and I could hear one of them asking their Mommie why was Daddy crying?

It was as if I stood back and watched myself doing this bizarre form of praying, trying to rationally grasp with my mind why I was so upset over the assassination attempt. After several minutes of this, the burden lifted and I was left wondering why I had reacted so strangely.

Some time later, a brother of one of the men in our fellowship had a tree fall on him. He was taken to the hospital unconscious and bleeding from the mouth, and as I recall, from the ears, indicating serious internal injuries. Again I was overcome by a desire to weep and wail aloud over this young man. I went in the bedroom and hit my knees, stuffed my head under the pillow and cried out with much agitation of my spirit. All the while, in my mind, I was asking myself why I was acting this way. After several minutes I no longer had an unction to pray in that manner, and got up to go about my regular duties. A phone call came in shortly afterward from the hospital, stating that Joe ( the young man who had been injured) suddenly sat up, with no pain, no bleeding and walked out of the hospital. He was fine. Now skeptics (and I am usually one of these) could argue that there was nothing really wrong with young man, and that it was all just a coincidence. But a couple years later when I was studying in John, this verse, Jesus wept, suddenly stood out to me and I vividly recalled what had happened as I prayed for President Reagan, and Joe Rennecamp. I now believe that this is part of the unction of the gift of healing. It need not always be present, but, perhaps is an indication of when the Holy Spirit wants to assure us of His will to be used us in a certain way. How did Peter suddenly know to grasp the lame man's hand (Acts 3:7), yanking him to his feet, and commanding him to walk? I am not saying he felt any such stirring rising up within him, but somehow he clearly knew it was the Lord's will and timing for the miracle to happen.

Recently a young girl in the church we attend gave similar testimony. She was watching a football game when a young man she knew only casually was painfully injured and removed from the game on a stretcher. She was suddenly overcome with weeping for him, though she did not know him that well. She made her way out of the stands, onto the field and to the ambulance where he was being loaded up to go to the hospital. He had wrenched and hyper-extended his knee, and the examining physician thought that surgery was called for. This young lady, Kaomi, timidly asked if she could pray for him with laying on of hands, and did so with their approval.

He was in school two days after, without crutches, walking with only a slight limp. A day later he had no limp at all, and played robustly in the very next game. I do not think I am stretching credibility to say that these unsought manifestations of healing fit the pattern given us by our Lord Jesus in the resurrection of Lazarus. The Lord wept, and the indication was a quiet, tear dropping kind of weeping. He, being holy and righteous, was better accustomed to being filled with the unction than Kaomi or I, and so, could control the power building within Him. Nevertheless, as the moment of truth came closer, He was filled with a more intense groaning to pray for work to be done.

This also touches a related subject-- the gift of healing (I Cor. 12:9). Many in the Body of Christ today argue that healing is an automatic, guaranteed part of the Atonement for every believer. They proclaim that the only reason a believer isn't healed of whatever illness is due to a lack of faith. They declare that Isaiah 53:5 promises us that 'by his stripes we are healed', and we merely need to rise up in faith and lay claim to our heritage.

If this were true, we wouldn't need to have the gifts of healing given to certain members to bestow upon others. We do not find a 'gift of forgiveness of sins' mentioned as one of the gifts of the Spirit, because it is part of the Atonement. We do not find a 'gift of membership in the Body of Christ' mentioned as one of the gifts of the Spirit. These things are part of the Atonement, won by our Lord Jesus for us by His Passion. But among the things we find given us that are not necessarily part and parcel of the Atonement are words of knowledge and words of wisdom. These are unctions of the Holy Spirit that do not necessarily come to all Christians. Miracles are not promised anywhere in the Atonement, yet the Holy Spirit decides to distribute them to some members of Christ's Body, and not others. This is the way it is with the gifts of healing. Some are given the ability to pray for the healing of others, while others are not. If it were something given to us in the Atonement, it would be available to all members of the Body of Christ, not just whomever the Holy Spirit decided to give them to.

So we find that the gifts of healing are not automatic to all believers, but only to some. This is to lead us to interdependence upon each other's gifts and callings. It is an independent spirit that wants to not recognize nor rely on anyone else's gifts and callings.

There is one more related item I would like to mention-- the laying on of hands. According to Hebrews 6:2 the laying on of hands is one of the basic principles of the Faith that all believers ought to be well acquainted with before pressing on to more mature things. Yet, it is one of the most malpracticed rites in our day and age. A call issues forth from the pulpit for everyone who feels so led to come forth and lay hands on a subject for anointing, or healing, or deliverance, or whatever, and immediately several people jump up to join in with laying on of hands. The sinful, proud, and spiritually immature crowd in on the subject, sure that they can impart some blessing, despite the fact that they need ministry themselves. The Lord will appoint certain ones who are in right relationship with Him, of a mature status-- IF-- we are patient enough to wait on Him. But all too often, before those the Lord has appointed to the ministry hear the affirmation in theitr spirit of their responsibility before the Lord, multitudes of anxious, immature believers rush forward to participate in the frolic, polluting the spiritual atmosphere with their insensitive and galloping prayers that claim everything from prosperity to fits of laughter, instead of what the Lord would speak. Those responsible for the meeting before the Lord need to impress the serious nature of the laying-on-hands upon the gathering, and that only those specifically selected by the Spirit should come forward to participate. If the pastors have any question about a certain individual's role, they should restrain such an one from participation. Any argument or resentment from the one so restrained would be a confirmation to the rightness in withholding such a one from trying to minister.

All for now, Love in Him

John & Bev

©John MacLeod 1997