Jesus wept.
John 11:35 (RSV)
It is tucked in between all the passion, the anguish, the stench of death, and confusion at Bethany. As the tears tracked their way down Jesus' face, there was a division among the mourners. Where some saw Jesus' love for Lazarus, others saw indifference that waited too long to come to Bethany.
I know my tears. They come as my heart is weighed down with grief or when it is overwhelmed by joy. I understand weeping in sorrow, for I am helpless before our final enemy. I can love with all the love a human heart can know, and death still steals those I love. I know my tears.
Jesus' tears are at first a challenge to grasp. I know He is God incarnate. He had the confidence of the Father's heart as He prepared to call Lazarus from the dead. Jesus knew that all the weeping around Him would soon transform into joy. Jesus wept.
Why would Jesus not weep at the tomb of His friend? He is as human as any one of us. Jesus loved his friend, and His tears are the price we pay for love. Love suffers, dies as those we love suffer and die. The heart that loves aches for the beloved, even as the resurrection is close at hand.
Jesus will bear the sorrow of Lazarus' death. Jesus will weep with all who mourn as the Father grieves over everyone who must taste death. On the cross, Jesus will bear the sin of the world, and all the sorrow sin has inflicted on the Father's children.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:4–6 (RSV)
I am grateful for my tears. I thank God that Jesus wept and carried all my losses to the cross.