What kind of man could command death and make death unclench its cold claws off Lazarus? Only the creator of the world. The raising of Lazarus offers Christians a glimpse into the future where at his return, Christ will raise from the dead all who have slept in hope of his coming.

Why did Jesus weep at the death of Lazarus?

Actually, the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus recount different times when Jesus was moved to tears. For example, he was moved to tears over the hardness of the hearts of the people of Jerusalem, despite his ministry to them (Luke 19:41). Jesus also wept at the garden of Gethsemane (Hebrews 5:7-9). However, for most people, when they hear about Jesus weeping, their minds immediately go to the shortest verse in the English Bible: Jesus wept (John 11:35). Why did Jesus weep in this famous verse?

Couldn’t Jesus Have Saved Him?

As usual, in explaining biblical narratives, the context is key. Lazarus, a friend to Jesus, had just died. What made the situation worse, in the eyes of his sisters Mary and Martha, was that they had sent word to Jesus while Lazarus was still alive and unwell. But Jesus hadn’t come in time to save him. This is why both sisters repeated the same phrase when they met with Jesus: ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’ (John 11:21, 32).

It is hard to overstate the emotionally charged atmosphere of the passage. On the side of the sisters, they were clearly devastated both by the reality of their brother’s death and also by what they must have felt was the avoidable nature of the death. They had seen Jesus healing people with worse illnesses than Lazarus had. ‘If only Jesus had come earlier,’ they must have been thinking.

Also, on the part of Jesus, his emotions were clearly heightened. John 11:33 reads: “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” The Greek word ἐμβριμάομαι translated as deeply moved, though, suggests something more intense. For example in the Greek play Seven Against Thebes, written by Aeschylus in 467 B.C., the same word is used to describe an enraged warhorse about to charge into battle. Indeed, in Luther’s translation of the New Testament, he translated ἐμβριμάομαι into German as ergrimmte, which means to become angry or furious.

This means that apart from crying, there was something about the situation that deeply upset Jesus and made him furious. Why did Jesus, who as the perfect man would never overreact, end up getting so angry and upset at the tomb of Lazarus that he broke down into tears?

Jesus Wept Over the Reality of Death

A common reason I have heard for why Jesus wept was that he was trying to be empathetic and sympathise with his friends who were going through a difficult time. However, this explanation doesn’t make sense of the context because Jesus knew he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead.

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