What Makes Jesus Weep?

The prophet Isaiah describes the coming Messiah as “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). During His years of earthly ministry, He was “moved with compassion” over the spiritual condition of the multitudes (Matt. 9:36). The writer of Hebrews describes the sympathetic heart of Christ, our heavenly High Priest, even now (Heb. 4:15). Twice in the Gospels it specifically speaks of the Lord weeping.

1) In Jn. 11:35 Christ is touched by the SORROW of the human heart. He realizes, as no one else does, the terrible blight on His creation caused by sin. There may even be sorrow at what He is about to do in the context–restore Lazarus temporarily to a corrupt world only to face death all over again.

2) In Lk. 19:41 Christ grieves over the SLOWNESS of the human heart (vs. 42). (Even the stones seem more perceptive, and potentially more responsive vs. 40!) And the spiritual blindness of Israel would soon bring terrible judgment (vs. 43-44).

Both of these, bereavement and blindness, are effects of human sin. And the solution to both is found in Christ Himself. He is the resurrection and the LIFE (Jn. 11:25; 14:6), and He is the LIGHT, the personal revelation of God’s truth (Jn. 8:12; cf. 1:14).