Jesus Wept

By N. P. Lasovich

In St. John 11:35 the verse says, Yeshua wept, (Jesus wept). This is one of the shortest translations in English in the New Testament. Lets start at the beginning though, lets back up and see what is going on here. Just about everybody knows the story of how the close friend of our L-rd, Elazar (Lazarus), died and the L-rd brought him back to life! And when we get to the verse that says, Yeshua wept (Jesus wept), I have heard preachers say that this just shows our L-rd had a human side to him and that he felt our pain and that he wept because Elazar (Lazarus) was such a close friend, well Im sure everything being said here about our L-rd is true, but lets start at the beginning just the same and see if we can get a little different slant on this. We start in St. John chapter 11. Verse 1. Now a certain man was sick, named Elazar (Lazarus), of Beit-Anyah (Bethany), the town of Miryam (Mary) and her sister Martha. 2. (It was that Miryam (Mary) which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Elazar (Lazarus) was sick.) 3. Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 4. When Yeshua (Jesus) heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of G-d, that the Son of G-d might be glorified thereby. 5. Now Yeshua loved Martha, and her sister, and Elazar. 6. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. 7. Then after that saith he to his talmidim (disciples), Let us go into Yhudah ( Judaea) again. So this is what we have so far. The L-rds friend Elazar has taken ill and his sisters, (one of whom happens to be Miryam the one who washed and anointed the L-rds feet with expensive perfume and then dried His feet with her hair) (Luke 7:37-38. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew

that Yeshua (Jesus) sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38. And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment) have sent for the L-rd knowing how much the L-rd loved him and that if anybody could make him better it was our L-rd who could do it. But after hearing this news that Elazar was sick and possibly dying the L-rd told his talmidim that the sickness wasnt unto death and he was going to wait a couple more days where they were before going on for it would be Glory unto the L-rd for doing so. Then after a couple of days of waiting, He makes the statement, let us go into Yhudah (Judaea) again. So we pick up at verse 8, His talmidim (disciples) say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? 9. Yeshua (Jesus) answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. 10. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. 11. These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Elazar (Lazarus) sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. 12. Then said his talmidim (disciples) Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. 13. Howbeit Yeshua (Jesus) spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 14. Then said Yeshua (Jesus) unto them plainly, Elazar ( Lazarus) is dead. O.k., we see here that the talmidim are concerned for the L-rds safety because at this point there are those who want to kill the L-rd in Judaea but the L-rd is not concerned with that and tells the talmidim that Elazar is dead but they think he means hes sleeping when finally the L-rd makes it clear to them that in fact Elazar is dead in deed. Lets pick up at verse 15. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

16. Then said Toma (Thoma; the name means twin), which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. 17. Then when Yeshua came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. 18. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off: (about two miles away) 19. And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 20. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Yeshua was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. 21. Then said Martha unto Yeshua, L-rd, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 22. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of G-d, G-d will give it thee. 23. Yeshua saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25. Yeshua said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? 27. She saith unto him, Yea, L-rd: I believe that thou art the Messiah, the Son of G-d, which should come into the world. Here in these passages we see that the L-rd wanted the talmidim to trust Him in what he was doing so that they might be witness to the unfolding of the miracle that was to follow so that not only would they trust in Him but see His wonderful power and His spirit. So when they came unto Bethany they discovered that Elazar had been dead and in the grave four days already. This alone must have been a little bit of a shock to the talmidim, but Im sure it wasnt to the L-rd. And when Martha heard Yeshua was approaching, she ran out to meet Him and made the statement that if He would have been there then Elazar would surly not have died, but even now she says, if you ask for it, you could bring him back to life if its the will of G-d. Of course our L-rd asks Martha if she believes in Him and she makes the statement that she knows He is the Messiah, the Son of G-d! WOW! Isnt that a powerful statement! She knows that shes standing in front of the Living, Breathing Son of G-d in ALL His Glory! I cant think of

anything more powerful then being able to say, that you personally know the Son of G-d! With that being said, let us continue on with verse 28. And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. 29. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. 30. Now Yeshua was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. 31. The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. 32. Then when Mary was come where Yeshua was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, L-rd, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 33. When Yeshua therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. 34. And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, L-rd, come and see. Now we are getting into some stuff that makes me start to ask questions. Here we see that Martha had talked to Yeshua and that Mary had stayed in the house. So after Martha had spoke to the L-rd she went and told Mary, quietly, on the sly, that the L-rd wanted to see her, and as soon as she was told that she hurriedly went to meet Him and everybody thought she was going to the tomb to weep, but she ran out and fell at the L-rds feet and said the same thing Martha had said, if you had been here, he wouldnt be dead. And when the L-rd heard her weeping and all the other people weeping he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. Now again, I have heard many a preacher say, well that just shows that after all the L-rd was part man and he did love Elazar and showed his emotions by weeping himself. But beloved may I inject another thought? Here we have the L-rd of all, who is all, who is capable of all, has all power and might at his command, could summon legions of angles at a word, do all things, do I need say more? Listen, is it possible, (after reading) that He groaned in His spirit, that He wasnt thinking, poor Elazar hes dead and Im going to

miss him, and all these people are so distraught because hes dead and their crying is really getting to me, . Now I say that humbly, because we of course know that the L-rd is going to raise him up! So the verse 35. Jesus wept. To me has a different connotation. Here I see the gravity of the situation, first He wants the talmidim to see His power so that they would believe in Him along with everybody else that is there to the Glory of G-d. Secondly Im wondering if he might not be weeping because here is a dear friend of His WHOS IN PARADISE and hes got to bring him back to this place! Now come on! Im of the opinion that if there is a choice between Heaven and here, Id choose Heaven every time! Wouldnt you? I mean we hear all the time of these near death experiences and how these people that had these experiences were so peaceful and how they hated the idea of being brought back here after having this near death experience and how it has changed their lifes forever, well, Im leaning toward the fact that the L-rd is weeping for the act for which hes about to do is probably painful to Him because He is bringing someone back from paradise, and maybe not so much that he really wants to, but feels obligated to show these people who probably the majority are not believers in Him anyway, hence, the groaning of the spirit! You know this is really troubling to the L-rd, He would not be weeping because Elazar died! He knows he can bring him back, so there is a underlying reason and I really feel its because of the fact that He has to bring him back here. Continuing on with verse 36. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! 37. And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? 38. Yeshua therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Now I want to point out again that the L-rd was groaning in himself. The translation of this actually means he was just a little put off, miffed, upset at these people. In todays vernacular Id probably go GIVE ME A BREAK! So, I just want to clarify

myself, bottom line, Jesus was put out at what he was about to do. So now let us continue with the rest of the scripture. 39. Yeshua said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, L-rd, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. 40. Yeshua saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of G-d? 41. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Yeshua lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. Again we see in verse 38 it says that the L-rd again groaning in himself cometh to the grave, this shows us that the L-rd is really troubled here, and again I think its because of the fact that you have all these people round about and for the most part are non believers plus he is going to have to bring his friend back to this old earth instead of leaving him in paradise! Also we see in verse 42 he makes the statement that he wants those around to witness this miracle so that they might believe in Him. Continuing with verse 43. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. I cant help but have this picture in my head of the monster movies of the mummy wrapped from head to toe walking with the arms stretched out coming out of the cave, but basically this is what is exactly going on! Here we see the L-rd with just a verbal command, come forth and that is just what he does! We have read in scripture that the wages of sin is death, (Romans 6:23) and I cant help but think of the grave clothes as symbols of us being wrapped up in our sins and the first thing the L-rd tells them is to loose him and let him go! Man thats some powerful stuff! We are dead in our sins and only the L-rd has the power to loose us from the grave! What a great picture of what the

L-rd has done in the past and what he can do even still, for in the fact that he was the final sacrifice! Death has no hold on us! I have to again go to scripture, 1st Corinthians 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56. The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I cant add anything more, but I can say, .Amen!