How Many Times Did Jesus Cry In The Bible? And Why?
Jesus Christ is both a man of joy and a man of sorrow.
He was a man who was acquainted with grief. Although Christ Jesus is truly God, He is also truly Man.
The author of Hebrews says that “he himself likewise partook of the same things,” which is human nature.
Jesus experienced to an extent what it is like to be human during His 33 years on earth. The only exception is that He did not sin.
Being truly Man, Jesus did weep and cry.
How humbling is it to see the Son of Man grieving in tears? Personally, as a pastor, I have a hard time shedding tears!
Nonetheless, we’ll examine the Scripture to determine how many times Jesus wept in the Bible.
Let’s dive right into it!
How Many Times Did Jesus Weep?
There are three instances where Jesus explicitly wept.
The author of Hebrew would look back to the crucifixion and give his commentary on it.
Here are the Bible references you can read:
1. Jesus Wept For The Death of Lazarus
John 11:35: “Jesus wept.“
Commentary
This is the shortest verse in the Bible. Two English words. Three Greek words.
It can even be understood as “bursting into tears.”
The context of John 11 is all about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
At the beginning of the chapter, Lazarus became ill. Jesus received a message that Lazarus was sick.
Lazarus was no ordinary stranger to Jesus. The text says in John 11:3 and John 11:11 that Lazarus is someone whom Jesus loved and Jesus’ friend. So, the sisters of Lazarus – Mary and Martha – sent a message to Jesus that Lazarus was ill.
What did they expect Jesus to do? Mary and Martha may have expected Jesus to visit and perhaps heal Lazarus (John 11:21, 32) so that he would not have died.
Yet, Jesus had a plan. He explains it in John 11:4: “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.”
Through the death of Lazarus, God’s glory would be manifested through Jesus’ miraculous sign.
How? By raising Lazarus from the dead.
It is in the same context where Jesus spoke His “I Am” statement: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
In other words, we have eternal life when we trust in Jesus.
Why Did Jesus Cry in John 11:35?
It is a simple question, yet a bizarre one.
Our Lord Jesus Christ planned to raise Lazarus from the dead. He said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” (John 11:11)
Yet, Jesus weeps for him. Was Jesus weeping pretentiously?
There are two possible reasons for why Jesus cried.
First, Jesus wept because his friend, Lazarus, died.
Second, Jesus wept because the Fall paved the way for physical death.
Mourning Lazarus’s death was genuine. While Jesus is omniscient of the future, He is still compassionate and sympathetic (Hebrews 4:15).
In the end, Jesus publicly called Lazarus out of the grave (John 11:43-44).
2. Jesus Wept For Jerusalem
Luke 19:41–44: “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Brief Commentary
Jesus arrived in Jerusalem also known as the Triumphal Entry. The Christian traditions would call it the Palm Sunday.
He was riding on the donkey. The crowd laid their cloaks and spread branches on the road to welcome Christ as King.
His arrival prompted different responses to His kingship. Some were joyful at Him. Some stubbornly rejected Him.
Luke 19:39-40 says: “And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ He [Jesus] answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.'”
Why did the Pharisees tell Jesus to rebuke His disciples? It’s because they want them to stop calling Jesus their Messiah or King.
However, even if they were silent, creation would cry out and testify that Jesus is the Christ. It’s actually a sharp rebuke to the Pharisees.
Why?
They fail to know what the inanimate objects in creation truly know (cf Habakkuk 2:11).
Hence, this led to the passage where Jesus saw Jerusalem and wept over it.
The Greek word, “weep,” is understood as a deep lamentation.
Why Did Jesus Cry in Luke 19:41-44?
Jesus cried for Jerusalem because Jerusalem rejected Jesus as the Messiah.
Because of their rejection, Jesus pronounces God’s judgment on Jerusalem. (“the time of your visitation”).
Jerusalem will fail to know the imminent destruction that will fall upon them in the future.
If only the Pharisees understood and worshipped their Messiah, they may not face that destruction.
Certainly, in AD 70, Jerusalem suffered the most gruesome sieges by the Roman Empire.
3. Jesus Wept For His Suffering
Hebrews 5:7–8: “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”
Luke 22:39–46: And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Brief Commentary
The context of Hebrews 5 is an exposition of Jesus being the Great High Priest.
Here, the author explains why Jesus is qualified to be the High Priest.
First, he’s appointed by His Father. (Hebrews 5:5-6)
Second, he can sympathize with His people. (Hebrews 5:7-8).
Jesus can sympathize with His people because He, being the Eternal God, became Man and shared in the likeness of humans in every respect (Hebrews 2:14, 17)
So, the author of Hebrews says that “in the days of His flesh,” it speaks about the entire life of Jesus Christ on earth. Throughout His earthly life, Jesus experienced the trials and hardships of being a Man.
Plus, as a Man, He offered prayer and supplication to His Father with loud cries and tears. This is most likely referring to the time when He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus prayed to the Father who was able to save Him from death. Certainly, the Father heard and answered His prayer because of His reverence.
This does not mean that the Father prevented Jesus from dying on the cross (or else the atonement is lost). It means that the Father prevented His Son from remaining dead in the grave. Thus, there is the resurrection of Jesus
Why Did Jesus Cry in Hebrews 5:7-8?
The author of Hebrew may have pointed back to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was praying.
Jesus asked the Father to remove the cup of God’s wrath from Him (cf. Mark 10:38). Yet, Christ submits Himself in obedience to the will of His Father, not His own will.
Jesus cried because He did not drink the cup of suffering or God’s wrath. He did not want, in a human sense, to be forsaken by His Father at the moment on the cross (cf. Matthew 27:46). Jesus was in agony to the point of sweating blood.
In his commentary, John MacArthur says, “In the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before He went to the cross, Jesus prayed and agonized so intensely that He sweat great drops of blood. His heart was broken at the prospect of bearing sin. He felt the power of sin and He felt temptation. He cried. He shed tears. He hurt. He grieved. What He had always known in His omniscience, He learned in a new way on earth by experience. He could not have been a fully sympathetic high priest had He not experienced what we experience and felt what we feel.” (John F. MacArthur Jr., Hebrews, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1983), 124.)
Conclusion
According to the New Testament, we are given 3 records of Jesus weeping.
The tears of Jesus teach us that He is Man.
Jesus is a sympathetic High Priest.
He is compassionate towards human trials and suffering.
