Jesus Wept

There are several places in the scriptures that we see the Lord weep.  What makes Him weep?  In 3 Nephi 17 He seems to have both wept out of joy and sorrow.  On the one hand He “groaned within himself, and said, Father, I am troubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel.”  On the other hand He said unto the people, “Blessed are ye because of your faith.  And now behold, my joy is full.”  It was after this that the account tells us that “he wept… and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.  And when he had done this he wept again” (3 Nephi 17:14, 20-22).  I think that those tears were from both the joy of being amidst the children and these righteous Nephites as well as the sorrow of the general wickedness of the house of Israel that had rejected Him in Jerusalem (and many of whom had died amongst the Nephites). 

In the New Testament we have two accounts of Him weeping.  The first was at the time that He healed Lazarus.  After observing Mary weeping for her brother, John’s account tells us: “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came to her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.”  After inquiring where the tomb was, we read simply that “Jesus wept.”  The Jews saw this and said, “Behold how he loved him!”  But it seems very unlikely that He was crying for Lazarus, for He knew what He was going to do in just a few moments.  The language is surprisingly similar to what we have in 3 Nephi 17:14 (both describe Him as having “groaned” and being “troubled”) and so I think that at least part of the reason for weeping had to do with also being “troubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel.”  He understood that most of these Jews there with Him would not believe on Him, even after raising Lazarus from the dead.  But surely His tears were also out of compassion for Mary and Martha’s sorrow.  Elder Talmage wrote, “The sight of the two women so overcome by grief … caused Jesus to sorrow [with them] so that He groaned in spirit and was deeply troubled” (Jesus the Christ, 493).  Sister Reeves quoted this in conference and commented, “This experience testifies of the compassion, empathy, and love that our Savior and our Heavenly Father feel for each of us every time we are weighed down by the anguish, sin, adversity, and pains of life” (The Lord Has Not Forgotten You, Oct. 2012).  The other time in the New Testament when Jesus wept was as He came to the city of Jerusalem and contemplated its fate.  Luke recorded, “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! …  For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side” (Luke 19:41-43).  He knew of the fate of the city because of its wickedness, particularly of the infamous Siege of Jerusalem that destroyed the temple and killed over one million people.  This account is similar to what we see in Enoch’s vision of God who mourned the “misery” of those who chose Satan as their father: “The whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?”  The Savior weeps for those who have to suffer for their wickedness and their sins; His love and compassion for us is such that He wants us to suffer as little as possible, but it is often necessary.  So putting these accounts together we see that the Savior wept over people’s wickedness, their sorrows, their suffering, and out of joy for their righteousness; far from being a God who has no passions, He loves us perfectly and deeply and indeed weeps over us.