The Savior who Empathizes | John 11

“Jesus wept” (John 11:35) is known to be the shortest verse in the English Bible based on multiple translations. It is often cited to demonstrate the humanity of Jesus Christ, to show that even though Jesus was fully God, He also experienced human emotions during His time on earth. Just like us, He was troubled, sad, angry, and frustrated. It brings comfort because it reminds us that Jesus empathizes with us. He understands.

But the narrative in John 11 reveals additional insights into the tears of Jesus. At the center of the story is a family from Bethany—Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus. This is a family that is mentioned on multiple occasions in the gospels. Luke 10:38-42 documents how Martha, busy and distracted with serving Jesus, complained about Mary because her sister was so engrossed in listening to Jesus that she did not help with the preparations. In John 12:3-8, Mary anointed Jesus and expressed her love for Him by pouring a pound of very expensive perfume on Jesus’s feet and wiping them with her hair. 

The account in John 11, however, is a very different kind of encounter. It was a distress call from Martha and Mary because their brother was ill, so ill that Lazarus passed away in a matter of days. They knew that Jesus loved them, and they knew that Jesus could heal even from a distance. So they sent an urgent plea, saying, “Lord, the one you love is sick” (John 11:3). Yet Jesus reacted in the most unexpected way. Instead of hurrying to see Lazarus or healing him instantly from afar, “He stayed where He was two more days” (John 11:6).

Does Jesus not love me?

Maybe we have all experienced times when God is seemingly unresponsive to our most desperate prayers. We frantically hope that God will unleash His power and turn the situation around, yet nothing happens. We are disappointed, downhearted, and left wondering if God cares or understands what we are going through. Yet it is almost as if John could see his readers attributing Jesus’s “inaction” to a lack of love, he prefaced Jesus’s decision to wait with this declaration, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5).

Jesus did not delay because He didn’t love them. Rather, as the narrative will reveal, it is precisely because Jesus loved everyone so deeply that he chose to react this way. On receiving the sisters’ urgent request, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (John 11:4).

It is a baffling statement considering it is not immediately clear how this incident is for God’s glory, not to mention Lazarus did die. In fact, by the time Jesus and His disciples got to Bethany, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Everyone was heartbroken, many were weeping. A large group had gathered, because many Jews from Jerusalem, which was just two miles away, came to console the bereaved family. Both Martha and Mary, on seeing Jesus, said, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21 & 32). So much anguish and sadness at the opportunity lost, the what-ifs that never came to be. Even some of the Jews commented, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” (John 11:37).

Indeed, why didn’t Jesus? Isn’t that the question on our minds as well when God seemingly ignores our desperate pleas? Yet we know it is not because Jesus didn’t love them, as Jesus was heartbroken too. “When Jesus saw her (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (John 11:33). In the face of so much agony and grief, Jesus wept. He feels our sadness and pain.

But Jesus was not just sad. He was also emotional and agitated (notice the word “deeply moved” can also be translated into “moved to anger”). He was frustrated that death and fear had such a grip on the ones He loved, terrorizing everyone and throwing them into despair and hopelessness. No one could imagine that even though Lazarus had died, Jesus could make him live again. It was too late in everyone’s mind. Thus for a moment, the ones Jesus loved were in utter defeat and helplessness. Can you imagine how troubled and heartbroken Jesus must have been to witness this, especially since He was already on His way to save them from the misery?

The preparation we don’t know we need

But Jesus had arrived, ready to show them a power that belongs only to God, thereby bringing glory to His Father. He wanted to show them that the Son of God has the power to tackle any situation, even death. Maybe this is why Jesus had to wait two days, because the miracle He needed to perform was not healing the sick, but raising the dead. Jesus needed them to see with their eyes that Lazarus walked out of the tomb still wrapped in linen when Jesus called him (John 11:43-44), so that they would always remember that their Lord could raise a dead man even if he was already decomposing. Nothing is too difficult or too late for the Son of God, not even death.

This is the preparation they didn’t know they needed. But soon afterward their beloved mentor would be crucified on the cross, and Jesus wanted them to remember that death has no power over Him. They needed this hope in their heart to believe that even if their Lord was dead, He could rise again. This is how they would get through the three days when Jesus was in the tomb, to know that not all was lost, because the Son of God’s victory over death is certain. This is the comfort Jesus hoped they would have amid the upcoming grief and misery.  

But there is still another reason why Jesus traveled to Bethany to perform this miracle instead of healing Lazarus from afar. Right before He raised Lazarus from the dead, he said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me” (John 11: 41-42).

In His love for every lost soul, Jesus was still trying to bring people to Him so that they could believe, even though the Jews in the region had grown hostile toward Him and tried to stone Him earlier (John 10:31-33; 11:8). He didn't care that this journey was potentially dangerous, because He only wanted to seize every opportunity to bring salvation to more people before He returned to the Father. Indeed, because of this miracle, “many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him” (John 11:45). It was a miracle performed not just for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, but also for everyone else who had yet to believe Him, because He didn’t just love the ones who loved Him, but also the ones who hated Him.

In His wise and unfathomable way, Jesus achieved so much more than just healing Lazarus. Not only did He prepare the siblings for His death and resurrection through this miracle, but He also brought salvation to many by showing them that He was indeed the Son of God. In God’s perfect and masterful plan, through all the seemingly unnecessary delays and unexpected turn of events, He stretched everyone’s understanding of Himself and guided them to a deeper faith. He is and always will be our wise, loving, and compassionate God, who through everything prepares us, shapes us, and equips us. 

Admittedly, we do not always understand God’s plan and His will. For Martha and Mary, maybe they wished that Jesus had healed Lazarus instantaneously to spare them the agony and heartache. But when Jesus wept, it reminds us that we are never alone in our misery and grief. God keeps track of all our sorrows and collects our tears in His bottle (Psalm 56:8, NLT). When our hearts are breaking, when our tears are flowing, Jesus is crying with us too. He knows our pain and suffering, and in His power, He comforts us and covers us with His immeasurable grace. One day, when Jesus returns, He will wipe every tear from our eyes. “There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain” (Rev 21:4, NLT). May the glorious victory that is certainly coming be our hope, always.

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