God the Son has a face that has been wet with human tears.
Jesus wept.” More wonderful words than these are nowhere to be found in Scripture. The verb translated “wept” is unique in its employment here, not found elsewhere. Literally it is, “Jesus shed tears.” These were tears of sympathy with the bereaved—heaven’s gems sparkling on the cheeks of Emmanuel, God with us, revealing to mankind the heart of the Eternal.
The Lord stood by the tomb where a loved and only brother had been laid, and where two brokenhearted sisters mourned him. Could He not have prevented this sorrow? Yes. Could He have not come earlier and robbed death of its triumph? Yes.
But this sorrow was permitted for the glory of God. In one sense the words of the sisters were true: “Lord, if Thou hadst been here my brother had not died!” Death cannot abide His presence. Here, then, we find it clearly taught that God permits death and sorrow to come upon His loved ones that He may be glorified thereby. This is a fact worthy of deep pondering.
Had Lazarus not died, these words would never have been written, “Jesus shed tears.” Had Lazarus not died, these silent witnesses to the anguish that tore the Saviour’s heart in view of human loss and sorrow would never have flowed. Had Lazarus not died, this special revelation of the heart of God would have never been granted to men to support them in the hour of anguish and sorrow. The death of Lazarus has enriched the race with a vision of God, the glory of which can only be discerned through tear-dimmed eyes.
These sisters had seen the Lord Jesus often. They had ministered to His wants. They had listened to His words. They loved to welcome Him to their home and to gaze upon His face. He brought the sunshine of heaven with Him, and diffused its peace around. They rejoiced with Him, and He rejoiced with them. He touched them in their joy; can He touch them also in their sorrow? They had seen that face radiant with holy joy; they must see it likewise clouded with anguish and behold the teardrops coursing down. Thus would He teach them, and us, how to “rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep” (Rom. 12:15).
We reach a common bond in the brotherhood of tears. I weep with my brother at morn; he weeps with me before nightfall. May the tears of the Son of God at the tomb of Lazarus not appeal to our hearts in vain! He has placed a holy dignity on tears.
The tears of the Lord are all the more wonderful as we contemplate the fact that He knew He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead and restore him to these sisters, thrilling their hearts with unexpected joy. Not for them alone, therefore, were these tears shed. They were shed to assure our hearts that He sees and understands and sympathizes with us.
Of nothing are we better assured from Scripture than that the Lord is still able to enter into the sorrows of His people, as He did during the days of His flesh, to sympathize with them in bereavement, and to send them divine succor from on high. To this very end did He suffer when here below.
“Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest….” (Heb. 2:17).
The words of the angels to the disciples after His ascension were: “This same Jesus…” (Acts 1:11). He sits on the throne of God, having been absent in person from our world for two thousand years. But these words prove that He is unchanged, that He abides the “same Jesus.” True it is that He now is where tears can never flow. But the compassion that caused Him to shed tears in the days of His flesh remains unchanged, and by the Spirit He draws near to assure our hearts of His sympathy. And He promises that He shall soon wipe your tears away as well.