Chapter 7 – Jesus Weeps at Lazarus’s Tomb – John 11:1–44

Scripture Reference:
“When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled… Jesus wept.” – John 11:33, 35

Lazarus had been dead four days when Jesus arrived in Bethany. Both Mary and Martha, grief-stricken, told Jesus that their brother would not have died had He come sooner. Jesus already knew He would raise Lazarus—but He didn’t rush to fix the situation. First, He entered their grief. He saw their pain, felt it with them, and wept.

This moment of divine vulnerability reveals Jesus’ unconditional love in its purest form. He didn’t dismiss their sorrow. He didn’t preach or explain. He simply wept—because love often means sharing the weight of someone else’s burden, even when we hold the solution in our hands.

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Reflection from My Life:

With age comes experience, and with experience—if we’re willing to reflect—comes empathy. I’ve come to believe that wisdom doesn’t automatically arrive with the passing of time. It comes when we learn to look at life through the lens of humility.

Hardship has a way of stripping ego. It teaches us to stop asking “Why me?” and start asking “What can I learn from this?” In those moments, we begin to understand others’ pain—not just with our minds, but with our hearts.

Jesus did that at Lazarus’s tomb. He knew resurrection was coming. Yet He still stood beside Mary and Martha, feeling their grief as His own. He showed us what it means to love unconditionally—as a man, feeling the weight of sorrow… and as God, conquering death.

That dual expression of love—empathy first, then restoration—reminds me that love isn’t just about fixing things. Sometimes the greatest gift we can give is simply to be present in someone else’s pain, to weep with them, and then, when the time is right, to help them rise again.