What Could Be Said of One Tear?

“Jesus wept.” John 11:35

I have found myself wondering why it was that Jesus wept. Jesus certainly knew what was about to happen: He would raise Lazarus from the grave. In fact, He waited two days before going to Bethany. He waited until Lazarus died and was lain in the tomb before going there. One would think that Jesus could have acted self-assured given that He knew the outcome. I would have probably said to Martha and Mary, ‘Hey, no worries. Be of good cheer!’ Don’t we sometimes say that when a brother or sister comes to us; they’re facing a hardship, an illness or suffering a terrible time of trial? God forgive me, but I’ve offered such epithets, but unlike Jesus, I didn’t know the outcome. He did, and still wept. Why?

I’ve mentioned this before, and I will do so repeatedly, that faith placed in God is trust placed in One who knows the end from the beginning; just as Jesus knew that Lazarus’ resurrection was the interim end for his death on the day of our Lord’s arrival in Bethany. It was not his final end. Nonetheless, it was God’s sovereign will and for His Son’s glory that Lazarus died, and there is no question that Lazarus died physically. God knew Lazarus’ end from the beginning. This is by some known as God’s sovereign and immanent will; that which is set in heaven in accordance with the counsel of God’s own will and eternal determination. In the case of Lazarus’ death, it was an interim end that God established and foreknown by the Father; One Who inhabits eternity. Thus, for us, God’s sovereign and immanent will is manifest in an infinite number of transient acts that spans man’s history from Adam until the future, when we shall see the new heavens and new earth. And we know Today that all things work together for the good of those who love Him. The death of Lazarus was one such transient act of God’s manifest and immanent will. And, what can we conclude from Jesus knowing God’s immanent will (Lazarus’ resurrection) and yet, His weeping over his death?  We can reasonably draw from that what glory and praise will ultimately come from God’s immanent will does not preclude Jesus from weeping over us in our present sufferings. Such transient acts include the death of someone we love, as Martha and Mary loved their brother; an illness; our feelings of aloneness, poverty or want… these Jesus knew personally. He knew because He was both God and man while on earth; thus, He understood and took with Him, upon His ascension to be seated at the right hand of God, His and our realized sufferings as a result of sin.

Please also consider what is written in verse 33: “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.”  This aching or groaning in the spirit is what led to His weeping; His compassion and love overflowed for Martha, Mary and the others. Jesus wept; the very tears of God falling and drying on an earthly plain. And this, He wept, despite His knowledge of the coming joy of Lazarus’ bodily resurrection! O, what a blessed communion we have with the Lord! How do I know His tears are true of and also for us; as it was for Lazarus, Martha, Mary and the others? Consider Romans 8:25, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”  Do you not think that what Jesus wept on that day is not for us Today? Is it not His groaning that is heard in the heavenly, and speaks for us, His understanding? If one drop of His blood could cover the multitude of our sin, what could be said of one tear as an expression and outpouring of His compassion?