The Strong One Who Knows Pain
Is Jesus' strength beyond empathy?
Many interpretations of this Lazarus story assume that Jesus knew what would happen from beginning to end. That he would say, This illness isn’t fatal. It’s for the glory of God so that God’s Son can be glorified through it, because he intended on raising Lazarus from the dead before he was even dead. This reflection will operate on that assumption.
So, Jesus, knowing that Lazarus would soon be fine, was still deeply disturbed and troubled. Indeed, he soon thereafter, wept openly.
But Jesus didn’t cry because Lazarus died.
When we read the text as it is, John tells us that Jesus’ angst and tears came at the experience of seeing the grief and pain of those who were impacted by his death.
This is very powerful and deeply human. But it’s also exactly divine. In the example of Jesus, we see both humanity and divinity. If Jesus’ nature were a Venn diagram, we’d know that many things are in the human circle (hunger, having fingers and toes, being born of a woman, etc.). And many things are in the divine circle (a particular access to God the Father, being the Son of God, etc.). But this experience of having empathy for those in pain and grief sits right in the overlapping portion of the divine and human.
Often we are tempted to see God as a stand-alone, bulwark knowing nothing of pain. It leads to an almost aloof caricature of a warrior God who has no time for children or dirtiness or would never be found in spaces that many humans would not go. But this is wrong. God is exactly in the places of hurt, destitution, and utter need.
This does not mean that God is not strong. Indeed, that is the good news - God understands need and yet stands within it as the Strong One. This has all sorts of implications for who Christ’s people can and should be.
John 11:28-37
After she said this, she went and spoke privately to her sister Mary, “The teacher is here and he’s calling for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Jesus. He hadn’t entered the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were comforting Mary in the house saw her get up quickly and leave, they followed her. They assumed she was going to mourn at the tomb.
When Mary arrived where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying also, he was deeply disturbed and troubled. He asked, “Where have you laid him?”
They replied, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus began to cry. The Jews said, “See how much he loved him!” But some of them said, “He healed the eyes of the man born blind. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
Psalm 34:17-18
When the righteous cry out, the Lord listens; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he saves those whose spirits are crushed.
Prayer
God,
Thank you for being present in our grief, for not standing aloof or removed from our pain. You do not merely observe our struggles from a distance—you enter into them, weeping with those who weep, standing among the mourners, and offering a love that sits with us in the dark.
Help me to embody this kind of compassion. When I see others in pain, teach me to show up—not always with answers, but ever with presence. When I am the one who is hurting, remind me that you are not far off, but right there with me, deeply moved by my reality.
And as I hold on to the hope of resurrection and restoration, help me not to rush past the real grief of today. Make me steady, compassionate, and true, both in joy and in sorrow.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.