The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“Jesus wept.”

—John 11:35

It’s significant that Jesus—who is God in the flesh and who knew he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead—wept in this moment.

He had just seen Mary and others crying and mourning over Lazarus’s death, and he was “deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (John 11:33). We often think of Jesus as being immune to or above our earthly emotions—perhaps even stoic and cold—but he wept for their pain and grieved for their grief. 

He has compassion and empathy for our earthly troubles and needs (Matthew 9:35–36; Matthew 14:14–20; Mark 6:34) even though he knows they are not permanent and that we will be healed—sometimes in this life, sometimes not until eternity.

When we’re living in pain and grief, we don’t have to doubt whether our Lord sees us or cares about our sorrows and heartaches. 

He sees us weeping and, even now, it moves and troubles him.

We don’t always feel like that’s true, just as they didn’t. “If you had been here, my brother would not have died,” Martha said (John 11:21).

Our normal human reaction is to think, “If you had been with us, Lord, this wouldn’t have happened. We wouldn’t be suffering right now. We prayed, but you’re too late.”

We have this story to remind us that God doesn’t abandon us in those troubled times. He knows and sees, and he is always there with his presence and comfort. Complete healing and restoration is always the plan for those he loves and who love him, but he does not ignore our pain in the meantime; he sees it all and mourns with us in our mourning.

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