Jesus wept

Context

This verse occurs in John's narrative of the death of Lazarus of Bethany, a follower of Jesus. Lazarus's sisters—Mary and Martha—sent word to Jesus of their brother's illness and impending death, but Jesus arrived four days after Lazarus died. Jesus, after talking to the grieving sisters and seeing Lazarus's friends weeping, was deeply troubled and moved. After asking where Lazarus had been laid and being invited to come see him, Jesus wept. He then went to the tomb and told the people to remove the stone covering it, prayed aloud to his Father, and ordered Lazarus to come out, resurrected.

The Gospel of Luke also records that Jesus wept as he entered Jerusalem before his trial and death, anticipating the destruction of the Temple.

Text

Interpretation

Significance has been attributed to Jesus's deep emotional response to his friends' weeping, and his own tears, including the following:

• Weeping demonstrates that Christ was a true man, with real bodily functions (such as tears, sweat, blood, eating and drinking—note, for comparison, the emphasis laid on Jesus's eating during the post-resurrection appearances). His emotions and reactions were genuine; Christ was not an illusion or spirit (see the heresy of Docetism). Pope Leo I referred to this passage when he discussed the two natures of Jesus: "In His humanity Jesus wept for Lazarus; in His divinity he raised him from the dead."
• The sorrow, sympathy, and compassion Jesus felt for all mankind.
• The rage he felt against the tyranny of death over mankind.

In history

Jesus's tears have figured among the relics attributed to Jesus.

Use as an expletive

In some parts of the English-speaking world, including Great Britain, Ireland (particularly Dublin and Belfast) and Australia, the phrase "Jesus wept" is an expletive some people use when something goes wrong or to express incredulity. In Christianity, this usage is considered blasphemous and offensive by the devout, as it is seen as violating the second or third of the Ten Commandments.

References

References

1. In the [[NIV]], {{bibleref2. Job. 3:2. NIV is the shortest biblical verse. Whereas the [[KJV]] reads "And Job spake, and said," the NIV simply has "He said".
2. The shortest verse in the [[Novum Testamentum Graece. Greek New Testament]] is Luke 20:30 ("{{lang. grc. καὶ ὁ δεύτερος", "And the second") with twelve letters, according to the [[The New Testament in the Original Greek. Westcott and Hort]] text. The shortest verse in the [[Pentateuch]], Genesis 26:6, also has twelve letters in the original [[Hebrew]]. The shortest verse in the [[Hagiographa]], 1 Chronicles 1:25, has nine letters in the original Hebrew.
3. {{bibleref. John. 11:1–45. NIV
4. {{bibleverse. Luke. 19:41
5. "Jesus Christ as a Flesh -and - Blood Human". Bibletools.org.
6. [http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/emotionallife.html The emotional life of Jesus], [[B. B. Warfield]]
7. [http://www.scifidimensions.com/Aug00/jnf_shroud.htm The Joe Nickell Files: The Shroud of Turin] {{webarchive. link. (2008-12-23 , interview with [[Joe Nickell]], August 2000)
8. E.g. [http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/j.htm Peevish.co.uk] dictionary of slang, [http://www.dagree.net/aussieslang/slang_j.html Dagree.net] {{Webarchive. link. (2007-02-03 Aussie slang)
9. (21 March 2012). "BBC rejects blasphemy complaint". [[Church Times]].
10. (2003). "Truth, Spirituality and Contemporary Issues". [[Heinemann (publisher).