ApologiaJAMS - Kevin Hass - Jesus Wept

Jesus’ Anguish at Lazarus’ Tomb and the Meaning of “Wept”

Jesus sees her weeping and he sees the Jews who had come with her also weeping and wailing. He was in this moment, deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. The idea that John is trying to capture in this word, in this phrase is very layered.

It's incredibly complicated and intricate. There's some deep sigh, there's some groan or confession or some image of this leaking out of him. Where does Jesus's weeping come from? The best I can give you is that we should translate deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled as raging indignation.

He sees the wailing and he takes in the grief and the anguish and the sorrow to such a degree that rage wells up inside him, anger fills him. He sees their pain, he sees their grief and he sees their loss and he enters into it to such a degree that it reminds him of his truest and most central purpose, to defeat death.

Because he's overcome by the effects of death and the tyranny of this misery, he enters into it with a love embedded rage of indignation. This is not as it should be. There is nothing pure or normal or natural about death.

Death itself is God's greatest adversary. And the one who wields death is the one that Jesus has come to eradicate and destroy. And we are the reward that he reaps when he brings his foe to death. The intensity and fire, the fury of the rage that wells inside him is restrained.

He holds it back and expresses the simpler form, the easier form of tears. Jesus looks death in his face as his truest opponent. As his real adversary. I love how Calvin said it, he's the champion. This is a pregame fight.

This is the boxer who's throwing punches and getting ready to go to war.

Christ’s Victory Over Death and the Power of the Resurrection

Is he good enough?

Is he powerful enough?

Yes, yes, that's his power. Yes, that's his glory. Yes, that's his goodness. He conquers death and the one who wields death. So yes, he comes. The Lord commanded the corpse to rise and it does.