Jesus and Lazarus were good friends. Jesus must have been very sad at the thought of Lazarus’ death. But it does not appear to be the death of His friend that moved Jesus to tears. It was witnessing the sorrow of Lazarus’ sisters and friends. He could have snapped His fingers and raised Lazarus, instantly turning all of that sorrow into amazement and celebration. But He didn’t. Instead, He entered their pain, felt it along with them.


One of the most famous verses in the Bible appears here. Verse 35, “Jesus wept”, is notable not only because of its brevity, but it also is enormously powerful because of what it conveys in just two words. Jesus empathetically feels what we feel. God sent Jesus to earth to reveal to mankind who He is. He is not a cold, uncaring, distant God. He is intimately knowledgeable of all our ways and feels our pain even more deeply than we do ourselves. Out of the agony of His heart over sin which separates us from Him, He laid down His life that we – His friends – might be raised again with Him!