Why these tears?
This is the only occasion on which Jesus is recorded as having shed tears; for although the Passion in Gethsemane is alluded to in the Epistle to the Hebrews as having been a scene of strong crying and tears, yet this is too general and rhetorical an expression to be taken literally. (In Luke 19:41, ἔκλαυσε is used, not ἐδάκρυσε, as here.) But Jesus, going to the grave of Lazarus, did manifestly shed tears, and this intensity of emotion was noticed. Why, then, was he moved to this extent?
I. A TESTIMONY TO THE FULLNESS OF HIS HUMANITY. These were the tears of friendship. Many a time Jesus must have been filled with profound pity for human suffering and bereavement, but that by itself would not cause him to shed tears. Jesus was on terms of loving intimacy with the family at Bethany. Every bit of evidence should be welcomed that deepens the impression of this; for to be sure that Jesus had special friends is to make us feel that he was a true, full Man. Every true man must have some who are dearer to him than others. A Jesus without intimate friends would have been a contradiction to all that is best in humanity.
II. A TESTIMONY TO FULL COMMUNION OF FEELING. In one sense there was no need for these tears. In a few minutes many tears might be shed, but they would be tears of joy over the restored relative. Jesus knew what was going to happen; why, then, did he seem as if plunged in the very depths of sorrow? The answer is that he really was in the very depths of sorrow, in full communion of grief with the two sisters who were his friends. Jesus behaved in all respects naturally and tenderly.
III. We must not, however, forget that these were THE TEARS OF JESUS. They are part of the proof of his humanity, but they must be looked at in the light of the whole of that humanity. They were the tears of a sinless Jesus. Tears must be looked at according to their cause. Oftentimes they express the most utter selfishness. The passion of grief, natural and inevitable as it is, brings out the whole man by the very violence of its expression, and so enables us to see how much evil there is in the heart. People can hear with equanimity of deaths all round them; it never strikes them there is anything wrong-anything that wants explaining. The problems and the mysteries of life are as if they were not. But let the blow break their own circle, and utterances the most reckless and purely self-regarding come from their lips.—Y.