And Jesus Wept

Life is dynamic and constant in her various lessons. It shows that certain things and emotions that we share bring us closer to one another than others. For instance when we see some human emotions being expressed especially by adult we are made to feel humble and sober. These emotions, most often than not, bring us closer to our own humanity. I remember the first time I saw my father cry. That was many years ago when I was seven years old in 1968, when my baby sister died at the tender age of four. I cannot begin to describe the pain and emotion that the tears of my dad evoked in all of us. That was the last time I saw my father cry, at least in public. I am pretty sure that there were other occasions that the old man would have demonstrated his humanity. He doesn’t have to express that to me in public.

The truth of the matter is that there is no time that we see someone shedding tears without being touched personally by it. No wonder Publius Terentius, the Latin comedy writer who lived from 190 to about 160 B.C., once observed “homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto” I am a human being, so nothing human is strange to me. Tears shed for the passing of our loved ones or tears shed amidst tragedy can be said to be tears shed for humanity and human beings cannot but be touched by it.

This, then, puts today’s posting in perspective. In the Gospel of John we are presented with the shortest verse in the bible. This verse has only three words, and these three words, though seemingly harmless, but nevertheless are words that are loaded with meaning, words laden with emotions and feelings, words that bring the person of Jesus closer to us more powerfully than other words. These three words express the humanity of Jesus and identify him with our human weakness more so than other words in the bible. This three-word-verse is found in John 11:35, “And Jesus wept”.  Jesus wept because Lazarus his friend was dead. His tears provoked comments, reactions and criticisms among those who saw him. “So the Jews said, “See how he loved him”. But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died”, John 11:36-37. So what is the meaning of the tears of Christ? It is not as if Christ did not know what he was about to do to restore Lazarus to life, in fact that was exactly what did. If Christ knew what he would do, why the tears?

Fr. Edward F. Steiner, in his homily background published in the Priest magazine, described the tears of Christ thus, “The people were wailing, a type of ritual mourning thought to be cathartic. Professional mourners were hired to bring the crying and wailing to a fever pitch. When Jesus wept the crowd assumed that He was simply participating in this ritualistic grief. But He was not! In John, one word was used to describe the tears of the crowd; another word was used to describe the tears of Jesus. Jesus’ tears had nothing to do with the emotions of sadness or sympathy. Jesus’s tears were tears of frustration. Jesus was troubled – perturbed – that, after everything He had said and after all the miracles He had performed, hardly anyone “got it.”” Fr. Steiner has made a good point above in his description of Jesus’s tears, but suffice it to say that the tears of Jesus were not just tears of frustration that no one got it, I think it was more or less tears of identification. The feeling of sadness and the pain that death had brought to those he loved. It demonstrated the fact that Christ is not a stranger to our pains, loss, deprivation and our need for comfort, companionship and love. I believe Christ is reminding us that to shed tears is a very human expression, but that we should remember that God is vey much concerned and interested in our situation in life. He will always reach out and touch us and bring solace to our pains. Hence He restored Lazarus to life even after shedding tears for him. When we are faced with sad situations in life, let us see Jesus weeping with us and yet let us be consoled that the Christ who weeps for us knows exactly what to do to draw us out of darkness to the light of his love and life.