Jesus Wept
“For the Souls in Purgatory – Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord”
John 11:33-35
When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Sir, come and see.’ And Jesus wept.
Grace Prayed For
Lord, let your tears at the tomb of Lazarus assure us that our own grief is not foreign to you — that you have wept with us and for us, and that you weep still.
Reflection
He knew what he was about to do. He had just told Martha that he was the resurrection and the life. He had known for days that Lazarus was dead, and the Gospel suggests he delayed his arrival deliberately. He was not surprised by any of this.
And yet he wept.
The Greek word used here — edakrusen — means real tears. And before that, John tells us he was ‘perturbed and deeply troubled’ — a phrase that in Greek implies something like a groan, a shudder, a visceral disturbance. The Incarnate Son of God was not serene in the face of death. He was disturbed by it.
This is theologically important. Jesus is not a detached deity observing human suffering from a safe altitude. He enters it. He feels it. He is moved by Mary’s weeping and by the grief of those gathered with her. The fact that he possesses knowledge and power to change what is about to happen does not insulate him from being affected by the present weight of grief.
For those of us who have wondered whether God truly understands what it is to lose someone, to face death, to stand before a sealed stone and feel the finality of it — Jesus weeping is the answer. He is not watching from outside the human experience of loss. He has stood inside it and been shaken.
In our small groups and retreats, we sometimes move too quickly past the tears to the resurrection. But there is no bypassing the tomb. The Lazarus story requires the weeping as much as it requires the miracle. Both are true. Both matter.
Let your grief be held today by the God who wept at a graveside. Your sorrow does not embarrass him. He has shed those tears himself.
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Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post