John 11:33-37
Jesus Wept
The passage is front of us another of those amazing Bible passages. I
find the Bible is filled with them. This passage is amazing because
as far as we know, this was the first time God ever shed tears. I
emphasize, "as far as we know."
The Bible does not say whether Jesus had ever cried before this or
not. Neither does the Old Testament ever speak of God crying.
Sometimes we preacher, as we are attempting to stir the spirit of
God’s people, speak of God in very physical terms, such as He sheds
tears over our sins or the sins of our nation. And that may be true,
but honestly, as far as I can find, the Bible never speaks of God
shedding a tear before this reference.
Yet here, the Word clearly states that Jesus wept. While this may
indeed be the first time Jesus wept, it is not the last. The New
Testament mentions three times that Jesus shed tears.
I. Jesus wept with us.
A. If you are not familiar with this story, Jesus arrived late—
on purpose—to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
1. \\#John 11:1\\ Lazarus has been sick.
2. \\#John 11:6\\ Jesus waited two more days before He left
to go to Lazarus’.
3. \\#John 11:14\\ Jesus told the disciples before they left
that Lazarus was already dead.
4. \\#John 11:17\\ By the time Jesus arrived, he had been
dead and buried for 4 days.
B. But we want to focus on was Jesus’ reaction.
John 11:35 Jesus wept.
1. Again, this is the first time this is recorded in the
Bible. Why?
a. By this time, Jesus had healed many and most likely
raised the widow from Nain’s son and Jairus’ daughter
from the dead.
b. But the Bible does not say that Jesus wept on those
occasions.
2. Why did He weep now.
a. Some believe Jesus wept because He knew that He was
bringing Lazarus back from heaven.
(1) I would not argue against that.
(2) It would be a hard thing to go to heaven and then
to be forced to return.
b. However, the context says that Jesus was vexed and
troubled when He saw Mary and those with her weeping.
John 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her (Mary)
weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came
with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was
troubled,
(1) But the Bible specifically says that Jesus loved
these three.
John 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her
sister, and Lazarus.
(2) I know that Jesus loves everyone.
(3) But Jesus was in a fleshly body and He was
close to these three.
(4) I think that association creates a more emotional
love between human beings.
(5) I’d like to think that I would give my life for
another, but the truth is, I would be far more
likely to give my life for someone I know.
(6) I think Jesus was feeling their pain of losing
someone close to you.
(a) Jesus knew where Lazarus and He knew what He
was about to do.
(b) But Jesus felt their hurt, their loss, their
grief.
(c) Jesus wept with them and in so doing, He
wept with us.
(d) Jesus knows what it is like to hear the
news of death.
(e) Jesus knows what it is like to visit a
grave.
(f) Jesus knows what it is like to miss someone.
(7) Jesus knows because it happened to Him.
c. There are many reasons Jesus came to this earth.
(1) One of them was so that He could feel what we
felt. (the emotional pain, heartbreak,
suffering)
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like
as we are, yet without sin.
(2) Another was so that we could have comfort from
God.
La 1:9 …she (Jerusalem) had no comforter. O
LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath
magnified himself.
(a) John 14 and 16 call the Holy Ghost our
Comforter.
(b) I’m told that the Greek word for "another"
in \\#John 14:16\\ means another after the
same kind as Jesus.
(c) If the Holy Ghost is the same kind of
Comforter as Jesus, Jesus was a great
Comforter.
(d) Jesus sent One like Himself!
II. \\#Luke 19:37-38, 41-44\\ Jesus wept for us.
A. We speak most every Easter of Jesus’ triumphant entry into
Jerusalem, but most believe this event occurred during that
entry.
1. Jesus stopped and wept over the city of Jerusalem.
2. If you go to Israel today, you will find a Catholic church
built on the hillside down called the Dominus Flevit
Church, The Lord Wept Church.
B. On this day, the Lord wept alone.
1. In fact, the others were starting to celebrate, thinking
Jesus would surely establish His kingdom when He arrived
at the city.
2. This day Jesus did not weep WITH the people. He wept for
the people.
C. Why did Jesus weep?
1. He wept because that city, almost in its entirety, had
rejected Him.
Luke 19:42 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even
thou, at least in this THY DAY…
a. This was THEIR DAY. What day? The day to be saved.
b. For 33 years, Jesus had watched. For 3 1/2 years,
Jesus had preached and healed and helped.
c. But in the end, they rejected Him.
d. They damned their souls to the Lake of Fire.
2. He wept because of that city and those people’s future.
a. God already knew that the Jews would reject Him and
God already knew what would happen to them as a
result.
b. \\#Lk 19:43-44\\ Jesus described what would happen to
Israel in 35 years.
(1) The year, 70 AD.
(2) Roman would send General Titus to destroy the
city and the temple.
c. But Jesus also knew of every exploit, every injustice,
every death to be perpetrated against those people.
d. Being God, Jesus knew every individual by name and
every death by detail.
Yad Vashem (enduring monument)
Janusz Korczak - Polish educator, writer, and directed a children’s
orphanage. He was offered sanctuary from the Nazis but
refused. Seeing his children frighten at what was happen,
he walked with them into the gas chambers and died
comforting them.
Chamber of photos
Piles of shoes - At one extermination camp, the shoes of those killed
were thrown into a pile. Tens of thousands of shoes gathered.
Even those two soldiers killed on the Temple Mount on July 14, 2017.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.801324
III. Jesus wept for our salvation.
Heb 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he
had offered up prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears unto him that was able
to save him from death, and was heard in that
he feared;
A. This is the third and the last record of Jesus weeping.
1. Again, here He wept alone.
2. But this time, He does not appear that He was weeping for
us but for Himself.
B. The writer of Hebrews described Jesus as weeping and having
fear. At what?
1. This is that night that Jesus on three occasions attempted
to get His disciples to pray with Him.
Mark 14:33 He …began to be sore amazed, and to
be very heavy."
Mt 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell
on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me:
nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
2. Every Christian should ponder and decide for yourself what
you think this fear and heaviness was about.
a. I do not think Jesus was fearful or flinched over the
pain that would be afflicted upon His body.
b. I do not think Jesus was fearful or flinched over
death itself.
c. I believe that Jesus was fearful and flinched that God
Himself was about to pour all of hell and damnation
on Him.
Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him;
he hath put him to grief: when thou (God) shalt
make his soul an offering for sin….
d. I believe that Jesus was fearful and flinched as the
time drew near that He should be forsaken and
separated from God the Father and the God the Holy
Ghost.
Mt 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried
with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?
C. Jesus, alone in the garden, alone in His castle of flesh,
looked ahead and anticipated what He was about to endure and
was "sore amazed," "very heavy," "he feared," and yet He
prayed, "not my will, but thine be done."
D. Jesus wept over what He would go through for OUR salvation.
1. Salvation may mean little to some but it meant a great
deal to Jesus.
2. Salvation may be free to us but it cost Jesus much more
than the saved can comprehend.
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