Day Nineteen: It Is Right To Cry
In 1972, Rosey Grier, a singer and former professional football player, wrote and sang a song that would become popular on children’s television, “It’s Alright To Cry.” In the song, Grier tells children that it’s alright to cry, but in John 11, Jesus goes a step further to show that it’s not just alright, it is right to cry!
John 11:35 is a verse that many cling to in times of sorrow, “Jesus wept.” Though it is the shortest verse in the Bible, it’s also one of the most profound and eloquent. In the original language, the verb “wept” would be incompatible with an image of a single tear streaming down Jesus’ cheek, so it might be better to say “Jesus burst into tears.”
The truth of this verse brings solace in knowing that our Lord experienced what it meant to be human. Jesus was not unaffected by the pains of this world, rather he was moved and cried. Jesus is not remote from the sufferings of his fellow humans; he is one with us in our humanity, and so he is one with us in our agony. Jesus lived our experience from the inside, and so he was not a detached spectator to Mary and Martha’s pain, rather his weeping was a demonstration of his heart.
But why did Jesus cry? Did he not know what was going to happen next? (Spoiler alert: Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.) Certainly, Jesus knew what he was going to do, and it was because of this foreknowledge that he told his disciples he was glad that he was not there to heal Lazarus so that they might believe (John 11:14). Still, these were not crocodile tears; Jesus was authentically weeping because he was authentically “moved.”
The same word that is “deeply moved” here is translated as a warning (Matthew 9:30; Mark 1:43) or scolding (Mark 14:5) in other passages. “In extra-biblical Greek, it can refer to the snorting of horses; as applied to human beings, it invariably suggests anger, outrage, or emotional indignation” (D.A. Carson, John, 415).
In being “greatly troubled,” Jesus is unsettled as he faces his enemy, death. The enemy, he knows he has come to conquer. This enemy has taken a friend, Lazarus, and brought great pain to his friends Martha, Mary, and others. It’s in the face of death that he is angry, troubled, and weeps.
Yes, because of Jesus, for the dying and those facing it, death has lost its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55), but for those of us who remain, the pain is real. When Jesus weeps, he tells us that it is right to cry. Death is not right. Death is not natural. God’s design was not death. So we rejoice as Christians that the day will come when he will wipe every tear from our eyes and death will be no more (Revelation 21:4). Until then, with Jesus, we weep, knowing that we do not weep alone.
John 11:35 is a verse that many cling to in times of sorrow, “Jesus wept.” Though it is the shortest verse in the Bible, it’s also one of the most profound and eloquent. In the original language, the verb “wept” would be incompatible with an image of a single tear streaming down Jesus’ cheek, so it might be better to say “Jesus burst into tears.”
The truth of this verse brings solace in knowing that our Lord experienced what it meant to be human. Jesus was not unaffected by the pains of this world, rather he was moved and cried. Jesus is not remote from the sufferings of his fellow humans; he is one with us in our humanity, and so he is one with us in our agony. Jesus lived our experience from the inside, and so he was not a detached spectator to Mary and Martha’s pain, rather his weeping was a demonstration of his heart.
But why did Jesus cry? Did he not know what was going to happen next? (Spoiler alert: Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.) Certainly, Jesus knew what he was going to do, and it was because of this foreknowledge that he told his disciples he was glad that he was not there to heal Lazarus so that they might believe (John 11:14). Still, these were not crocodile tears; Jesus was authentically weeping because he was authentically “moved.”
The same word that is “deeply moved” here is translated as a warning (Matthew 9:30; Mark 1:43) or scolding (Mark 14:5) in other passages. “In extra-biblical Greek, it can refer to the snorting of horses; as applied to human beings, it invariably suggests anger, outrage, or emotional indignation” (D.A. Carson, John, 415).
In being “greatly troubled,” Jesus is unsettled as he faces his enemy, death. The enemy, he knows he has come to conquer. This enemy has taken a friend, Lazarus, and brought great pain to his friends Martha, Mary, and others. It’s in the face of death that he is angry, troubled, and weeps.
Yes, because of Jesus, for the dying and those facing it, death has lost its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55), but for those of us who remain, the pain is real. When Jesus weeps, he tells us that it is right to cry. Death is not right. Death is not natural. God’s design was not death. So we rejoice as Christians that the day will come when he will wipe every tear from our eyes and death will be no more (Revelation 21:4). Until then, with Jesus, we weep, knowing that we do not weep alone.
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