Why did Jesus weep? Was it because his friend Lazarus had died? I don’t think so, because Jesus knew that he was going to bring Lazarus back to life. No, I’m sure it was because Mary and Martha, their friends, and even the disciples, after everything they had seen of Jesus performing countless miracles, still did not believe in him.

Jesus had many reasons to weep throughout his short ministry, and even to this day.

He weeps when he sees one human being beheading another. He weeps when we fly airplanes into tall buildings, killing thousands of innocent people. He weeps when bullets are pumped into human bodies by their fellow man. He weeps when his name is trashed; used as a curse instead of a blessing. He weeps when he reaches out to us and we turn our backs on him, or ridicule him, or deny his very existence. He weeps when we lose patience with family and friends, and when we fail to offer kindness and understanding instead of derogatory remarks. He weeps when lives are lost to cancer, humility is lost to vanity, and his love is tossed to the winds, instead of being embraced by humanity, to whom he freely gives.

John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible…just two words: Jesus wept. Two words to show the true compassion of the greatest man who ever lived.

It’s enough to make me cry.