Why Did Jesus Weep? The Answer Might Surprise You

Why did Jesus weep? The answer is probably different than what you've been taught.

Was Jesus Weeping Out of Compassion... Or Anger?

Is it because he was full of compassion as the English translators lead you to believe? Or is it because he was angry?

Yes, you read that right. Jesus was angry. If you question this, remember—Jesus was angry before, and he was angry again (Temple Cleansing).

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The Story of Lazarus

John 11:35—the shortest verse of the Bible: "Jesus wept." But we have to back up to understand why he wept.

Lazarus died. Jesus didn't go there immediately. In fact, he could have at that moment just healed him from a distance. We know this is possible because:

• The centurion soldier didn't need Jesus to come to his place to heal his child

• Another man in the Gospel of John didn't have to have Jesus present for his child to be healed

There are multiple times in which Jesus didn't need to be present for the person to be healed. Just recall what Jesus said to the centurion who told him, "Jesus, you don't need to come to my home. I'm a man of great authority, and I tell a servant to go here and he goes, and to go there and he goes. You just need to say the word and it'll be done."

And Jesus says, "Wow, what great faith. I've not seen such faith in all of Israel"—even amongst his own who had been with him for a very long time.

The Real Reason for Jesus' Tears

So the story goes: Lazarus dies. Jesus waits for a time, then comes and sees Mary and Martha who are just groveling over the fact that their brother is dead. I get it, and I'm not rebuking them. But the Lord is angry.

You don't have to look very far. In John 11:33, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was—as our English translation puts it—"deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled."

The Translation Problem

Let's take a look at this verb. This word that we translate as "deeply moved"—the other three times it's translated in Scripture, it's translated as "sternly warned" or "scolding":

• Matthew 9:30 - "And their eyes were opened, and Jesus sternly warned them"

• Mark 1:43 - "And he sternly warned them and immediately sent them away"

• Mark 14:5 - "For this perfume might have been sold for 300 denarii and the money given to the poor, and they were scolding her"

But in John 11:33 and 11:38, the translators chose to translate this same verb as "deeply moved." Why the difference? Let's let the context determine what's going on here.

The Context of Disbelief

Jesus knew full well that he was going to resurrect Lazarus. They didn't, but he knew. And Jesus makes the journey and comes to them, and the first thing Martha says to Jesus is: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

That's a red flag for me. They'd already seen those two other miracles, at least, that had taken place when Jesus didn't have to be somewhere in order to heal people.

Martha continues: "But even now, I know whatever you ask from God, God will give you."

Jesus says to her, "Your brother will rise again."

Martha responds, "I know he'll rise again in the resurrection on the last day."

Jesus says to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

And she says to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world."

But her actions seemed to indicate disbelief. If you had come, he wouldn't have died. I know he's gonna rise again, but it's gonna be at some undisclosed time. You're not giving me back my brother right now. But yes, you are the Christ, the Son of God.

I'm not trying to mock these women—they were in deep turmoil. But what I am trying to show us is that Jesus was deeply sorrowful or moved to the point of anger over the disbelief of those whom he had been around for so many years at this point in time.

When Mary comes to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

There is some measure of disbelief here amongst the people. Especially when we get to verse 36:

"So the Jews said, 'See how he loved him.' But some of them said, 'Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?'"

Verse 38: "Then Jesus, deeply moved again [indignant again], came to the tomb."

The Confrontation at the Tomb

It was a cave, and a stone was laid against it. Jesus says, "Take away the stone."

And Martha, again doubting the Lord, says, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead for four days."

But Jesus says, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"

Did I not tell you? If you believed? Your actions are showing disbelief. The disbelief of my people is welling up in this anger—because his people who are called by his name are not taking him at his word like that centurion did, like the other Roman official did whose child was healed in the Gospel of John.

They took away the stone, and he said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I say this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you have sent me. Lazarus, come out!"

This whole context here is a context of disbelief. Jesus had been telling them what he was going to do, and they still didn't believe.

Contrast: The Official Who Believed

This is a vastly different story than what happened earlier in John's Gospel. Jesus is having a conversation with an official, and he says, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe."

The signs and wonders were meant to point to the fact that he is Messiah. The official says, "Sir, come down before my child dies."

And Jesus says to him, "Go. Your son will live."

The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went away.

And as I alluded to before, we have the centurion. Jesus says to the centurion, "I'll come and heal him."

But the centurion replies, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man of authority with soldiers under me, and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, with no one in Israel have I found such great faith." And then he says, "Go, let it be done for you as you have believed."

The disciples would have seen this early on in ministry before the death of Lazarus.

Jesus Weeping Over Jerusalem

I also want to bring up one more instance where Jesus wept—over Jerusalem. The context in Luke 19 is that Jesus just had his triumphal entry seated on a donkey's colt, and the people were all shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed be the Lord! Glory to God in the highest!"

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples."

In verse 40, he answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying:

"Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side, and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation."

Jesus was declaring here that because they did not believe in him as Messiah—because they did not receive him in who he revealed himself to be—they would be under the covenant curses of God found in Deuteronomy 27 and 28, and that another nation would rise up and destroy them to the point of them losing their very lives.

And Jesus wept over the city. Why? Because of the disbelief of the people.

The Pattern Is Clear

It seems to me the context is brutally clear that the times Jesus wept, they were over disbelief.

In Matthew 23:37, Jesus laments:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Jesus weeps—not because he has compassion over the death of Lazarus and how the others are feeling about it. He knew very well what he would do.

He weeps because he was indignant over the disbelief of those who were closest to him. And then he weeps at a different point in time because of the disbelief of his people whom he was sent to—who rejected him by nailing him to a cursed tree.

Jesus wept because of disbelief.

It is very difficult to make the context say anything different.

So let us be the people of God that uplifts the Messiah and his words and takes him at his word, believing what is true.

Want to dive deeper into Scripture? Visit immerseddisciple.com to learn more about studying the Bible in ways that magnify Christ and drive you to find him in the Scriptures for yourself.