“After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”” John 11:28-37
Mary falls at Jesus’ feet, echoing her sister’s words: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” But this time, Jesus doesn’t respond with teaching—He responds with emotion. Seeing her weeping, and those mourning with her, Jesus is deeply moved. And then, He weeps.
“…we follow One who stood and wept at the grave of Lazarus-not surely, because He was grieved that Mary and Martha wept, and sorrowed for their lack of faith (though some thus interpret) but because death, the punishment of sin, is even more horrible in his eyes than in ours.” C.S. Lewis, “God in the Dock”
Jesus’ tears remind us that God is not distant in our suffering. He doesn’t just fix things—He feels them. He is not coldly sovereign but intimately present. Your pain is not unnoticed. It moves His heart.
Something to prayerfully consider: What does it mean to me that Jesus doesn’t just heal, but also grieves with me?
