After He Was Deeply Moved in His Spirit, Jesus Then Wept

Following the example of Jesus in sharing sympathy, empathy, and compassion with others

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. | John 11:33-35

Jesus wept. How often do you think about the reality of those two words?

Can you envision Jesus, God in the flesh, weeping alongside Mary, the sister of Lazarus, and the many family members and friends as they mourned the loss of someone special? Can you see it? The tears streaming down the face of the most powerful, influential, loving, caring and compassionate person to ever live as he grieved death. Have you ever taken a moment to meditate on the impact of that moment as Jesus came alongside this family and their friends as they lamented the loss of Lazarus?

The reality of that moment when Jesus joined Mary and the others in shedding tears of sadness and sorrow carries powerful impact in all facets of my life. Whether it’s my role as a husband, father, or minister, I want to be so invested and so present in the lives of the people around me that I too can feel the weight of the emotions they feel as they journey through both the lows and highs of this life. I want to follow the example set by Jesus in allowing myself to be vulnerable enough to share tears and mourn alongside everyone in my family, ministry, and life circles.

This story of Jesus and Lazarus leads me to consider the roles of sympathy, empathy, and compassion in life and in ministry. God often uses the most challenging experiences and deepest valleys of our lives to equip us for the work he will do in us and through us for his glory. For me, God has used my son’s special needs and the impact of his life on our family to better equip me for the type of ministry he’s called me into. I don’t have formal Bible college or seminary training, but I have many years of life training that God has been gracious enough to use to help me to be more sympathetic, empathetic, and compassionate to the friends, families, and volunteers in our ministry. I never want to take that for granted or overlook the importance of my life experience in the hands of God.  

So, what does it mean to have sympathy, empathy, and compassion and what are the differences in each of those? According to our friends at Merriam-Webster, sympathy is a feeling of sincere concern for someone who is experiencing something difficult or painful, while empathy involves actively sharing in the person’s emotional experience. Both compassion and empathy refer to a caring response to someone else’s distress. However, empathy refers to an active sharing in the emotional experience of the other person, while compassion adds to that emotional experience a desire to alleviate the person’s distress.

An even simpler set of descriptions could go something like this: Sympathy means you can understand what the person is feeling. Empathy means that you feel what a person is feeling. And compassion is the willingness to relieve the suffering of another. Understanding, feeling and action. In life and in ministry, there is a time and place for each of these and I believe that to be true because we see it in the life of Jesus.

Going back to the Scripture and the events around the death and resurrection of Lazarus, I’m struck by the impact of the moment on Jesus just before and just after he weeps. We read in verse 33 that Jesus was “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled” and we read in verse 38 that he was “deeply moved again” signaling an emotional response that focuses on his humanity. The message of verse 33 points to Jesus’s ability to understand and feel through his human spirit what Mary, Martha and those closest to Lazarus were feeling in those moments. And he was greatly troubled by the harsh realities of suffering and death in this life. Because of the humanity of Jesus, he understands the emotions we feel and experience in life. And as he did that day, he can and will sympathize and empathize for us today. But it doesn’t end there with Jesus.

After he was moved to tears by the pain and hurt for his friends, we’re reminded once more in verse 38 that he was “deeply moved again” as he went to the tomb to eventually resurrect Lazarus. Despite Mary, Martha and many of others questioning why he waited so long to respond, Jesus moved compassionately as he brought Lazarus back to life. This miraculous moment fulfilled Jesus’s own words in John 11:4 when, in response to the news that Lazarus was ill, he said “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

While the resurrection of Lazarus was certainly a good thing for him and those around him, it also served as another example of the supremacy of Jesus while foreshadowing the ultimate and eternal victory Christ would deliver through his own death and resurrection a short time later. But before he completed that mission on the cross, he was faithful to his mission to love people by being present, especially when life was most difficult.

Though we’re not likely to move in the same miraculous ways today as Jesus did in his earthly ministry, we are called to share the same sympathy, empathy, and compassion for others we see in Jesus. As we love others the way Jesus loves them, that love grows more abundantly for the people in our circles. We’re reminded in John 11:5 that Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and it was through his love for them that he could be so deeply moved in his spirit that he went to them, cried with them, and took action on their behalf in their darkest moments. As we believe and follow Jesus in our lives, we have an opportunity to love others the way he does through sympathy, empathy, and compassion.

God, I pray you will give each of us the clarity and discernment to know when and how to best share sympathy, empathy, and compassion for the people in our circles. Father, Help us to be more understanding of the challenges and hardships in life for those we may not otherwise appreciate. Lord, help us to weep alongside those who need us to share our tears with them in their deepest valleys of life. And Holy Spirit, help us to know when to move on behalf and in support of those who need your church to fight alongside them. We praise you God for the ways you’re glorified in every area of our lives. Amen!