A friend challenged me recently to reflect on the generosity of Jesus in this simple, yet profound verse: Jesus wept. John 11:35. His throwdown became a gift to me, for it drove me to mine the depths of this moment. In my reading, I came upon these comments from an 18th century Scottish commentator, James MacKnight. They stirred me. So for the shortest verse in the Bible I offer what may be the longest meditation ever. I pray all who read it will be moved deeply to worship Jesus and perhaps even weep in response.
“Jesus wept. In this grief of the Son of God, there was a greatness and generosity, not to say an amiableness of disposition, infinitely nobler than that which the stoic philosophers aimed at…
By his weeping, they were all convinced that he loved Lazarus exceedingly. Some of them, however, interpreted this circumstance to his disadvantage; for, according to their mean way of judging, they fancied that he had suffered him to fall under the stroke of death, for no other reason but want of power to rescue him. And thinking the miracle, said to have been worked on the blind man during the feast of tabernacles, at least as difficult as the curing of an acute distemper, they called the former in question because the latter had been neglected. If, said they, he has really opened the eyes of the blind, might he not have preserved this man from death?
By all the wonderful works which Jesus had done, these stubborn people were not persuaded, neither would they be convinced by the great miracle he was about to perform. They were to see him raise one to life and health again, that had lain four days in the grave. Yet so hard were their hearts, that many of them would persist in their infidelity still. Jesus, who knew the discourses which they now held among themselves in private concerning him, was likewise fully acquainted with the hardness of their hearts, and at the same time foresaw the miseries which their unbelief would involve them in…
On many occasions, Jesus had publicly appealed to his own miracles as the proofs of his mission; but he did not ordinarily make a formal address to his Father before he worked them; though to have done so, would have showed from whence he derived his authority. Nevertheless, being about to raise Lazarus from the dead, he prayed for his resurrection, to make the persons present sensible that in working his miracles he acted by the assistance, not of devils, as his enemies maliciously affirmed, but of God; and that this miracle in particular, could not be effected without an immediate interposition of the Divine power. The evangelist, it is true, does not say directly either that Jesus prayed, or that he prayed for this end. But the thanksgiving which he tells us he offered up, implies both…
Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. John 11:41b-42
By this prayer and thanksgiving, therefore, Jesus has insinuated, that his own resurrection from the dead is an infallible proof of his divine mission; no power inferior to God’s being able to accomplish a thing of this kind. The dead man heard the voice of the Son of God, and came forth immediately…
Considering the nature and circumstances of this great miracle, it ought to have silenced the peevishness of caviling, might have overcome the obstinacy of prejudice, and should have put to shame the impudence of malice. Wherefore, we cannot help being surprised to find, that the cry, “Lazarus, come forth,” did not produce, on all the people present, an effect some way similar to that which it had on Lazarus. It raised him from the natural death, and might have raised the stupidest of the spectators, from the spiritual, by working in them the living principle of faith.
Every reader must be sensible, that there is something incomparably beautiful in the whole of our Lord’s behavior on this occasion.
After having given such an astonishing instance of his power, he did not speak one word in his own praise either directly or indirectly. He did not chide the disciples for their unwillingness to accompany him into Judea. He did not rebuke the Jews for having in former instances maliciously detracted from the luster of his miracles, every one of which derived additional credit from this incontestable wonder. He did not say how much they were to blame for persisting in their infidelity, though he well knew what they would do. He did not insinuate, even in the most distant manner, the obligations which Lazarus and his sisters were laid under by this signal favor. He did not upbraid Martha and Mary with the discontent they had expressed, at his having delayed to come to the relief of their brother. Nay, he did not so much as put them in mind of the mean notion they had entertained of his power; but always consistent with himself, he was on this, as on every other occasion, a pattern of perfect humility, and absolute self-denial.
A miracle so remarkable, performed in the neighborhood of the capital city, before a multitude of spectators, many of them enemies, could not but make a great noise, and upon different persons must have had very different effects…
The greatest part of the witnesses present at the miracle, when they had seen it, believed Jesus to be Messiah. So incontestable a proof of his power and authority left them no room to doubt of his character. They knew that no impostor could perform any miracle; and so great a one as the resurrection of a person who had been in the grave four days, was a miracle worthy of Messiah himself. Willing therefore to know the truth, they yielded to the force of this evidence. Nevertheless, others of the eye-witnesses being ill-disposed and prejudiced, remained in their unbelief still, and departed as firmly resolved to oppose Jesus as ever.”
James MacKnight (1721-1800) in A Harmony of the Four Gospels (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, Paternoster-Row, 1809) 532-535.