The Heart Of God

The Heart of God

Seeing Jesus Weep

Read: John 11:28-37

During a wedding ceremony, all eyes are usually on the bride, but during Keisha’s wedding, everyone’s attention shifted to the groom. Before that day, many people wondered what had attracted Keisha to Jack. Keisha was a petite, dainty bookworm, and Jack was a big, burly outdoorsman, several years older than she was. Halfway through the ceremony, the guests discovered what Keisha saw in him—a tender heart. This former football player and ex-marine cried like a baby as he softly repeated his vows.

The women present in today’s Bible passage must have been moved by Jesus’ tears. Jesus had been deeply moved by the sight of Mary and the other mourners crying for Lazarus. Their grief had filled him with compassion and with anger over the anguish and death that sin had brought into the world. As he asked to be shown Lazarus’s tomb, Jesus wept. Some interpreted his tears as a sign of how much he loved Lazarus; others asked why he couldn’t have kept Lazarus from dying, since he had healed a blind man. None of the observers understood what they were seeing—the all-powerful God of the universe crying over the fallen state of the human race.

“Then Jesus wept.” Those three short words reveal so much about God’s heart and character. God is not a cold, stern taskmaster waiting to zap us when we mess up. As a loving Father, he chose to enter our world and share in human suffering. Sin and its consequences anger him, but he always has compassion on his children who come to him needing comfort and reassurance. When we’re in pain, he hurts with us. When we mourn, he grieves too. When we cry, God sheds tears along with us. In the book of John, God gave us a touching picture of his compassion to help us remember that.

Then Jesus wept.

John 11:35