When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled (John 11:33).

Every one of us has experienced “death” in one way or another: the death of a relationship, a job, a dream, even the death of someone we love. John invites us to recall those emotions as he tells a story steeped in the grief surrounding the death of a beloved brother. 

The writing itself prepares us for the story’s climax by building up the sadness and tension as it unfolds.

At first, we’re not worried. There’s news that Lazarus is sick, but we’re immediately comforted in Jesus’s confidence that it “will not end in death” (v. 4) and his lack of urgency in returning to Judea. But then, confusion and sadness build back up on their journey with Jesus’s statement that Lazarus has in fact died and the disciples’ response to go and die with him (v. 16)! Were they too late? Was Jesus wrong?

Confronted by the grief of Martha, Mary, and many other Jews who have come to mourn, it seems like the time has passed for a miracle. Jesus had a reputation as a great healer, but in the face of death, what remains to be healed? Death trumps all.

This is where the story strikes me the most. While John is appealing to our emotions around death to draw us into this story, he is simultaneously setting the stage for Jesus to step into our story. Upon seeing Mary and the others coming out to him and weeping, he is filled with an intense sadness such that “he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled” (v. 33 KJV). Then John delivers the shortest – yet one of the most penetrating – verses in scripture: “Jesus wept” (v. 35). Knowing full well who he was and what he was about to do, Jesus did not overlook the very real grief brought about by death. The same love that will raise Lazarus back to life is the same love that weeps with the grieving. Jesus’s love for his mourning friends moves him to weeping. He wept with them; he weeps with us.

This is the God of love, grace, and humility. Reading how he was willing to step into the most difficult parts of their story reminds me that this same God is willing to step into my story now and invite me into a greater story than I could ever imagine.

We all experience deaths of many kinds. If there is grief you are holding onto, bring it to Jesus. He knows you, your heart, and your pain. Invite Jesus into your story as we move to encounter the most important act of love in his story.