Jesus Wept
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Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived.(Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.” When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death, but to God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”(Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.)
So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two more days. Then after this, he said to his disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”The disciples replied, “Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death! Are you going there again?” Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks around in the daytime, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.But if anyone walks around at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
After he said this, he added, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I am going there to awaken him.” Then the disciples replied, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” (Now Jesus had been talking about his death, but they thought he had been talking about real sleep.)
Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas (called Didymus) said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go too, so that we may die with him.”
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days already.(Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,so many of the Jewish people of the region had come to Martha and Mary to console them over the loss of their brother.)So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house.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 grant you.”
Jesus replied, “Your brother will come back to life again.”Martha said, “I know that he will come back to life again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies, and the one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who comes into the world.”
And when she had said this, Martha went and called her sister Mary, saying privately, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”So when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. (Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still in the place where Martha had come out to meet him.) Then the people who were with Mary in the house consoling her saw her get up quickly and go out. They followed her, because they thought she was going to the tomb to weep there.
Now when Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people who had come with her weeping, he was intensely moved in spirit and greatly distressed.He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They replied, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.Thus the people who had come to mourn said, “Look how much he loved him!” But some of them said, “This is the man who caused the blind man to see! Couldn’t he have done something to keep Lazarus from dying?”
Jesus, intensely moved again, came to the tomb. (Now it was a cave, and a stone was placed across it.)Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, replied, “Lord, by this time the body will have a bad smell, because he has been buried four days.”Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have listened to me.I knew that you always listen to me, but I said this for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped around his face. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”
So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two more days.
John 11:6
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days already.(Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,so many of the Jewish people of the region had come to Martha and Mary to console them over the loss of their brother.)So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house.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 grant you.”
Now when Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people who had come with her weeping, he was intensely moved in spirit and greatly distressed.He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They replied, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.Thus the people who had come to mourn said, “Look how much he loved him!”
So they took away the stone. Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have listened to me.I knew that you always listen to me, but I said this for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped around his face. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”
There’s a melancholy that accompanies certain times of rejoicing. As comforting as it can be to know that something is working out the way you hoped, it can be hard to face the cost. TV Producers know this. It’s why in every reality show where one contestant is going to win a large sum of money while the rest go home empty handed, they end the season with the final two standing side by side, hearing the verdict together. The person who wins is overjoyed at having won, and at the same time saddened that it means the runner up - someone who they’ve often come to know and love - has lost. It’s a near-guarantee that as the confetti falls, there will be tears in the winner’s eyes, and audiences love tears.
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This happens because sometimes, our love for ourselves and those closest to us is at odds with our more general love for the whole of humanity. If my loved one's life is saved, I rejoice. If someone else dies, that’s sad. If the two go hand in hand, I don’t quite know how to feel. If I accomplish a life long dream, I am happy. If someone else’s dreams are crushed, that’s sad. If the two go hand in hand, I don’t quite know how to feel.
That’s the place Jesus is in by the middle of this story. People die every day, and as Jesus himself announced back in chapter 3, he would rather nobody die. He wants to save them all. And he will. But the way he is going to save them all is not by making them immortal in this life. Rather, it’s by opening a way for them to find everlasting life beyond death. Sometimes, though, he can’t help himself. He sees someone suffering, and in his compassion he has to save them right then and there.
In this case, it’s hard to tell who Jesus is really sparing. Is it Lazarus? Lazarus’s sisters? Or is it Jesus himself who is freed from suffering by the events that transpire? It’s clear he loves this family - and not just in the way he, as God, loves all of humanity. There’s something about these three that causes him, as a human, to develop a close bond with them. And so, when he knows Lazarus is dead, he does something he’s not yet done for anyone else: he goes out of his way to travel to Lazarus’s tomb and bring him back to life. As he stands outside the tomb, those mixed emotions hit him.
He loves Lazarus. He wants him to live. He loves Mary and Martha. He wants to dry their tears. Part of him feels responsible, knowing that if he’d gone when he first found out Lazarus was sick, he could’ve healed him, but instead he waited. He stayed put a few more days to finish up some business, tie up some loose ends. And now here he stands, outside of Lazarus’s tomb, ready to raise him up.
But he loves everyone else, too. He is, in his own words “not willing that a single one should perish.” He’s got this future resurrection planned for everyone, and he’s been proclaiming it far and wide - Martha even mentions it to him when he first arrives, thinking that’s what he means when he tells her Lazarus will be raised. If he can bring Lazarus back now, why can’t he just bring everyone back? Why do so many have to suffer without their loved ones when he has the ability to do something about it? It’s not fair that he should get his friend Lazarus back while millions of other people are forced to go through life without those they lost.
Still, he knows he will bring back Lazarus, and leave the others in their tombs, and that knowledge causes him to weep. Because his joy comes against the backdrop of others’ grief, and all he can do for them is promise that some day - some future, unknown day - they, too, will get to experience this kind of reunion. He knows that for the grieving, that answer won’t satisfy. It won’t be nearly enough.
That’s the kind of thing love does to us. Whether you are the God of the universe, or the frailest of people, love guarantees that your heart will be broken. It may be broken in grief at an experience of loss. It may be broken when your dreams are not realized. Or it may be broken because you have everything you ever wanted, and that came at a great cost. But one way or another, love will lead to a broken heart.
Love anyway.
Follow the example Jesus laid before us.
Every relationship is temporary. Love anyway.
The more people you love, the more risk your heart stands to be broken. Love anyway.
People are sure to disappoint you. Love them anyway.
The world is a cruel place. Love it anyway.
Only a fool would love, knowing where love leads. Be a fool. Love anyway.