GOD FEELS

John 11:35 - "Jesus wept" - grabs our attention not only because of its brevity, but also for the image of a God who mourns.

Although we know the Bible says "God is love", many believers conceive of God as being mainly cold and distant. Many have a hard time imagining God as experiencing any emotion outside of anger or disappointment.

But here is Jesus weeping before the tomb of His friend Lazarus.

And Hebrews 1:3 tells us that “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”  

The exact representation!

Jesus Himself said that when we see Him, we have seen the Father.

We may have to work hard to comprehend fully that God Himself is standing at the tomb, mourning with Lazarus' sisters.

It is curious to note that the Greek word used in verse 35 is not the same as the word used to describe the sisters' tears. Though they both end up as "weep" in English, the sisters' crying is what we might call "wailing" while Jesus is "shedding tears". 

I've heard people wonder why Jesus weeps here when He knows He is about to resurrect Lazarus.

It's a good question. 

A previous verse might shed some light. 

In verse 33, Jesus is said to be "deeply moved in spirit and troubled". 

The really interesting word is what the NIV translates as “deeply moved”. Strong’s says the Greek means “to snort like an angry horse.”

God in the flesh standing by the tomb of his friend snorting like an angry horse? Can you imagine?

He's obviously not angry at anyone else standing beside Him. What's He angry about?

I may be wrong, but it seems to me the tears and the anger are aimed in the same direction. 

Some believers hold a theology of a God who is disgusted by humanity, just itching to throw the whole lot into hell. (à la Jonathan Edwards and his famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God")

Personally, I hold a theology of a God who is disgusted by sin because of the pain it has inflicted on His loved ones. 

Lazarus' resurrection is a foretaste of Jesus' ultimate solution to the sin problem, and in that moment Jesus exercises his power over death - just like in the moment of His own death to come - it is accomplished in a full and painful awareness of the reality of sin.