Jesus wept. For a time, He said no words and just wept. Lazarus, Jesus’ good friend, was dead and had been for four days. Jesus was still at the edge of town when Lazarus’ sisters ran to Him, first Martha and then Mary. As Mary fell to the feet of Jesus loudly sobbing, and all those gathered around them began sobbing as well, Jesus was deeply moved.

He asked where they laid the body and was told to come and see. There would be time for that but not now. Now was the time for Him to stand and silently shed tears with all of those around Him who were mourning. Jesus wept.

John 11:35 (“Jesus wept”) might have been the first verse that I ever memorized. Being only two words, it doesn’t take long to get it down. Growing up, those two words always brought me a lot of confusion. Why would Jesus be weeping?

It wasn’t as if He had just heard the news for the first time. This was no surprise to Jesus. Earlier in John 11 we see that Jesus, knowing that Lazarus was on his deathbed, made the decision to wait until he had died before going to him.

Jesus was going to give new life to Lazarus’ dead body and create a walking testimony to His power in front of all those who were gathered there at the tomb that day. This was Jesus’ plan, and now it was only moments away from being completed.

Lazarus was going to be walking out of that tomb and Jesus knew it! You would think that Jesus would be full of joy and anticipation knowing what He was about to do and would be rushing everyone off to the tomb as quickly as possible, but that doesn’t happen. Instead, Jesus wept.

Jesus understood the hurt, the pain and the suffering that all those who were gathered there were feeling. Jesus always knows what we are going through. He didn’t gloss over their emotion and carelessly brush it to the side. He took the time to just be with them. He wept with them.

Interestingly, Jesus didn’t weep in the same way as they did though. The Greek words denote a striking difference. Mary and all those who were gathered there sobbed loudly. It was a cry of mourning over a death. In contrast, Jesus shed silent tears. Tears of a heart broken seeing the pain of those He cared so much for. Jesus didn’t weep for Lazarus, He wept for Mary and Martha and all of those who were so grieved and hurting.

In this, Jesus teaches us all a very valuable lesson. Just because we know the joy that is coming doesn’t mean we can’t mourn with those who are hurting. Take time to be there with people when they are struggling. Be there for them even if that just means silently crying with them. Call someone today who is going through a rough time and lovingly be there for them as Christ always is for us!