John 11:33-36 “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!”

It is in times of difficulty, sorrow, and heartache that we find ourselves reaching out for comfort and consolation. The question we must ask ourselves is where do we turn to receive the help and strength to weather the storm before us? One of the best ways is to seek out others that have faced similar circumstances and discover where they received help.

One such group is found in John 11; a little family of Bethany had lost a friend and brother. What was their response; “Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick” (vs.3). During the trying times of adversity, this little family turned to the sympathetic Saviour; for He was “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15). While others may not, there was one that could sympathize and strengthen, and His name was Jesus!

This truth is magnified in the two words of scripture that encapsulate the heart of the Saviour; “Jesus wept” (vs.35). Jesus wept because of His friend’s sickness. While we don’t know the disease or its duration, Jesus’ friend had fallen ill and passed. As He thought about what His friend may have went through and the separation of the present, “Jesus wept.”

Jesus wept because of His friend’s sorrow; “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping” (vs.33). Grief had so overtaken the heart of His friend that she did not cry in silence, but rather, she audibly wailed aloud as tears stream down her face. Identifying with the wounded spirit, “Jesus wept.”

Jesus wept because of His friend’s sin. While sin may have manifested itself in the form of sickness, Lazarus like all men, had died because of sin; “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). The fate of Lazarus is the fate of all men, and knowing this truth, “Jesus wept.”

But the good news is that while He was there to comfort and give strength to His friends, He would not stop there. Jesus would take care of the sin problem, which would take care of the sickness problem, which would take care of the sorrow problem by His complete and finished work on Calvary; “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

Only Jesus can help in the present and give hope for the future! Jesus may have wept at one grave but Jesus won at another grave; “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:57).