Why Does Jesus Cry?

"Jesus wept". I read this verse in John 11 and for the first time wondered why. He knows He plans to raise Lazarus. He didn't cry when He felt it in His spirit and told His disciples "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up" (v 11). When He arrives He first speaks with Martha and still no tears, He tells her what He is going to do and she has great faith in Him.

So why does He start crying? The Jewish people watch Him saying, "See how He loved him!" (v 36). He does love Lazarus, but He's crying because Mary is.

"When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled" (v 33).

He doesn't tell her to wipe her face and watch a wonder, though He knows it's coming. This sorrow will be finished soon but she doesn't know that, and even if she did it still hurts now.

Jesus is bigger than death so Lazarus' passing doesn't trouble Him. He's troubled by Mary's grief. And He cries with her first before He shows her His glory.

We can't receive the miracle until we grieve what was lost. Jesus sits with us in this and we need Him to. I've cried more in the past five months than I have in a long time. Sometimes I don't even know why but Jesus does and He's working it out slowly.

God will cry with you first before He shows you His glory.

"List my tears on your scroll. Are they not in your record?" Psalm 56:8