Tami’s Meandering Thoughts

“Then Jesus wept”
John 11:35

Those of you who read this regularly are going to start thinking that I am a very emotional, weepy-type of person. I can tell you honestly that I am not – not that I don’t have emotions, but I don’t tend to cry a lot. However, are you ready for another look at emotions? Yesterday I read an account that I have read innumerous times, but this time I read it in a different translation which used words that I hadn’t heard before.

What’s one of the most famous stories of the Bible? Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. And it is well known that if you need to quickly memorize a verse then definitely choose John 11:35. “Jesus wept” since it is the shortest verse in the Bible. However, it has always confused me as to why Jesus would be so sad about Lazarus’ death when Jesus knew he would resuscitate him soon. Instead of taking the time to cry, he should just speed it up and make him alive! Yesterday I got the answer (well, I THINK it is the answer! Haha)

The background: After Lazarus dies, Jesus arrives in Bethany, Lazarus’ hometown, where he is greeted by Lazarus’ sister, Martha. After proclaiming that she believes Jesus is the Messiah and could help Lazarus even though he’s now dead, Martha goes back to her home to tell Mary that Jesus came. Quickly Mary leaves her home to meet Jesus out on the road, and many mourners follow her to see where she is going. Then comes the part that answered my question of “Why would Jesus be sad?”

The translation I usually use says that, when Jesus sees Mary and the others weeping and wailing he was “deeply troubled” followed, a few verses later with “Jesus wept”. I assumed that his “troubled” meant sorrow. But yesterday I read it in the New Living Translation which says, “When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him.” (vs. 33) What? Jesus was angry? At what? I kept reading… A few verses later it says, “Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb” (vs. 38) Notice that “Jesus wept” is sandwiched in between these inner emotions of anger. So, as I pondered it, it occurred to me, could Jesus’ tears not be tears of sorrow but tears of anger? And again, at what? What at this funeral what made Jesus so angry? Well, I had an idea, but since I have no real Bible background, I looked up the Greek to see if I was right.

What I found out is that Jesus was angry. This anger, brought on by seeing those he loved overcome with sorrow, stemmed from his knowledge that their sorrow stemmed from sin. The Net Bible, in the study notes, states it thus, “He was angry because he found himself face-to-face with the manifestations of Satan’s kingdom of evil.” Because of man’s sin and Satan’s dominion on earth, humans die. Because humans die other humans experience sorrow. Jesus witnessed these people he loved experiencing deep sorrow, and he knew that in a perfect world they would not experience this loss. Thus he wept – not out of his own sorrow but out of the sin that encompassed the earth and those he loved.

Does that make sense? Have you ever been so angry at injustice that you cried? I know I have – it’s usually when someone does something to me, but I have also experienced that anger when seeing helpless children who are hurt by someone around them. I think that is what Jesus experienced. So much anger at injustice and sin that he wept.

Now I understand Jesus’ sorrow. He knew the perfect world that he came from and longs for us to experience that: a world with no sorrow, no pain, no death. He’s there now waiting for us, and that’s what keeps us going in this world - the knowledge that our lives don’t end with our death here.