Why Did Jesus Weep? Compassion or Disbelief?

Why Did Jesus Weep?

A long time ago I was asked a Bible trivia question. I didn’t know the answer then. The question was: What is the shortest verse in the Bible? If you don’t know, that’s okay. The shortest verse in our English Bible is John 11:35. It reads simply: “Jesus wept.” Trivia is nice and all but this leads to an even more important question.

Why did Jesus weep? Jesus is recorded weeping three times in Scripture. Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus (John 11). Jesus also wept twice over the city of Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 19:28-48). The three accounts may seem different on the surface. While the particulars of each are certainly different, the context of all of the passages is that of disbelief. In these passages, Jesus weeps because of the hardness of heart He sees and the unbelief of God’s chosen people.

Understanding why Jesus wept is more important than knowing the answer to the trivia question. Let’s dig deeper into each passage.

Disbelief in John 11

Context is important. Not just the context of the chapter. The context of the immediate chapters and the entire book, too. If you have not read the book of John lately, I suggest you take the time to do this. If you lack time, then I suggest at least reading John chapters 10-11.

One of the main themes of the book of John is the deity of Jesus. Jesus is the eternal Son of God. He came into the world to save sinners. John chapter 10 records one of Jesus’s “I Am” statements.

These statements are a clear declaration that Jesus understood Himself to be God (John 10:36). In John 10:11 Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd.”

As the Good Shepherd Jesus must lay down His life for the sheep. But this Shepherd is different than others. Because Jesus is God, He has the authority to take His life back up again (John 10:17-18). This context is important so stick with me.

Jesus was speaking of His death and resurrection.

He is laying down His life to protect the sheep. To save them. Not just temporally but eternally!

John chapter 10 concludes with some disbelieving His words and rejecting Jesus. But not all rejected. It says that “Many believed in Him there” (John 10:42). John 11 begins with a continuative conjunction. This means that the author, John, is simply connecting the two passages.

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, he whom You love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it He said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (John 11:1-4)

It is important to note the words, “He whom You love is ill.”

This love is affirmed in John 11:5, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”

These three, along with the many who believed Jesus, are loved by Him. He is going to lay down His life for them as the Good Shepherd. And to take His life back up again for them, too.

Yet, no one understands what Jesus is doing. They are looking at temporal matters not eternal. After Lazarus has been dead four days, Jesus arrived in Bethany. This was just outside of Jerusalem. He had delayed His coming to the glory of God. Martha heard Jesus was coming and went to Him.

An important conversation took place between Jesus and Martha. It’s good for us to slow down and consider it carefully.

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” 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?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” (John 11:21-27)

Jesus declares His deity again. He says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Just as in chapter ten, the people are faced with a choice. To believe this truth or to reject it: that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world.

Acceptance is to find eternal life in Him. Rejection of this truth means the wrath of God remains on them (John 3:36).

Faith & Deeds

Belief and action go together. For example, I am sitting on a chair right now. I chose to sit down because I believed that this chair would hold me. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t have sat down. My actions demonstrate my faith. My faith is shown by my actions.

To believe that Jesus is the Son of God whom the Father has sent into the world to save sinners requires action. An example of true belief is demonstrated by the centurion in Matthew 8:5-13 (bold added),

When He had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to Him, appealing to Him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And He said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, “Go,” and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,” and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this He marveled and said to those who followed Him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, when the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the Centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

Compare the faith and action of the centurion to what Mary said.

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.” 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. So the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” (John 11:32-37)

This may seem a bit nit-picky. But it isn’t. It’s important to see the difference. Even if it is subtle or overlooked by some.

Did Jesus need to be there for Lazarus not to die? No. Jesus could have healed Him from afar. The centurion knew and believed that. Why didn’t Mary and Martha?

Did the sisters and the disciples demonstrate the faith of the centurion? No. They asked for Jesus to come so that Lazarus would not die.

Did Mary and Martha truly believe that Jesus who has the authority to lay down His own life and take it back up again could raise their beloved brother from the grave? Maybe. But it doesn’t seem that they fully understood or believed this in its entirety. Nor does it seem the other Jews believed it either. Their actions speak to the true content of their faith.

Grieved By Disbelief

When Jesus observed the weeping of the sisters and the Jews the text tells us that He was “deeply moved.” This is perhaps a misleading translation of the verb embrimaomai. This verb carries the weight of indignation with it where it occurs elsewhere in Scripture. It has the meaning: to insist sternly, scold, or feel strongly. The word is used four other times in the New Testament (Matthew 9:30; Mark 1:43; 14:5; and John 11:38). All of the other occurrences are translated in this negative sense. Perhaps a better rendering of this verse is given in the NLT,

When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. (John 11:33, bold added)

Jesus weeps because of the disbelief. Not just the people of Israel but even more so over the disbelief of those whom He loves. This is further affirmed in the context,

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.” When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (John 11:38-42, bold added)

The same verb, embrimaomai, is used again in verse 38, “Then Jesus, deeply moved again.” This indignation of Jesus comes this time not from the disbelief of His loved ones. This time it comes from the disbelief of the people who said, “Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” They are doubting His ability and identity directly. They are wondering why Jesus didn’t do anything to save Lazarus before this happened. No one expects that Jesus can do anything now that Lazarus has died.

Jesus is rebuking the people for their disbelief. “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that you have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.”

This takes place near the end of the earthly ministry of Jesus. After nearly three years of performing miracles, signs, and wonders to demonstrate that He is the Christ. Sent of the Father into the world. Yet, even His closest followers do not understand nor do they fully believe in the identity, glory, and power of Christ. If they truly believed, their actions would be different. They would share the confident faith of the centurion.

Disbelief in Luke 19

It is important to note the timing of the two passages. They are close together in time. Many believed in Jesus after He raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:45). The Jews sought to kill Him (John 11:53). So, Jesus went into the wilderness to the town of Ephraim for a time. But soon the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey in fulfilment of the Scriptures. And the people received Him gladly.

The proximity of time matters. The recent disbelief of the Jews and His loved ones would be freshly on Christ’s mind. As Jesus came into the city on a donkey’s colt, the people of Jerusalem spread their cloaks on the road. With palm branches the people cried out,

Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! (Luke 19:38)

To this declaration, the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus,

“Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:39-40)

All of creation knows their Creator. Creation exclaims the glory of God. Jesus is fully aware that the people declaring these truths about Him will soon deny Him. He knows that even His loved ones will fall away. Just as these proud Pharisees stood in disbelief, everyone else will scatter. Some will even be among the crowd chanting “Crucify Him, crucify Him, crucify Him.”

The Scripture says,

And when He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)

The King of kings and Lord of lords is before the great city of His people. God incarnate. And they received Him not.

They looked for a king to establish an earthly throne. To give them earthly peace. Not understanding that they were enemies of the very God who created them and called them to be His people because of their sin and unbelief.

Jesus expressed that this city and its people do not understand the peace that God’s Messiah came to make. They did not believe the testimony given by the Father through the Son. The testimony that Jesus was God’s Messiah, Christ, and Savior sent into the world to save sinners. Matthew’s Gospel records Jesus’s lament over Jerusalem just before He enters the city for the Passover,

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see Me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Matthew 23:37-39)

They were unwilling to believe. God sent prophets to them. Over and over. His message was not believed. It was rejected. The prophets were killed. This is no different. The people did not believe the prophets and they did not believe the Son. They crucified Him in their disbelief.

This disbelief leads Jesus to weep. To weep because these people believed Him not and would die in their sins. The very sins that Jesus came to save them from. The peace that they need, eternal peace between them and their God, was rejected.

In Matthew Jesus weeps over Jerusalem a few days after the account in Luke. I encourage you to read Matthew 21-23 on your own. You will see the same context of disbelief as in John and Luke. These articles may help further the understanding of the context of Jesus’s weeping: Why Did Jesus Cleanse The Temple, Why Did Jesus Curse The Fig Tree.

Disbelief

Disbelief is wicked. When we fail to believe that Jesus is both Lord and Savior (Acts 2:36), we are calling God a liar. God sent His Son into the world. His Son came willingly. Jesus lived a perfect life, performed many miracles that pointed to the truth that He has been sent by God. Yet, the people esteemed Him not. They despised and rejected Him. The hardness of man’s heart caused Jesus to weep.

The Savior was standing before them. Instead of believing, they handed Him over to the hands of lawless men to be crucified! They had rejected the love of God in Christ. Their actions are the evidence.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the Light and does not come to the Light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. (John 3:16-21)

Pay attention to this lesser known verse which comes at the end of this famous chapter in John’s Gospel:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)