John 11:35
Jesus wept.
This is the shortest verse in the entire Bible and yet one of the most profound in the Word’s entirety.
This verse is used by man in the world to show how people’s pain causes the Lord to hurt as well. It is a comforting verse when viewed in that context—but what if there is more?
So many people surrounded Jesus but did not believe the words He spoke, particularly that He would raise Lazarus. They did not believe Jesus is the resurrection. They wept based upon what they saw and not trusting in who Christ proclaims He is.
D. A. Carson, in his commentary of John, says:
The one who always does what pleases his Father (8:29) is indignant when faced with attitudes that are not governed by the truths the Father has revealed. If sin, illness, and death, all devastating features of this fallen world, excite his wrath, it is hard to see how unbelief is excluded. But the world that is at enmity with God is also the object of God’s love [cf. notes on 3:16], so it is not surprising that when he was shown the tomb where the body lay, Jesus wept. The verb wept (dakryō) is different from that describing the weeping of Mary and the Jews (klaiō): it means to shed tears, but usually in lament before some calamity. It is unreasonable to think that Jesus’ tears were shed for Lazarus, since he knew he was about to raise him from the dead (v. 11). Rather, the same sin and death, the same unbelief, that prompted his outrage, also generated his grief. Those who follow Jesus as his disciples today do well to learn the same tension—that grief and compassion without outrage reduce to mere sentiment, while outrage without grief hardens into self-righteous arrogance and irascibility.
Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John (p. 416). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans.
Father, have mercy on me—a sinner. I am so often filled with unbelief. Fears surround me, and I spend most of my time whining and complaining instead of seeking You and thanking You for who You are. Help me to walk in Spirit and in truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen