Yohanes 11:35

11:35 Jesus wept. ¹ 

Yohanes 16:20-21

16:20 I tell you the solemn truth, ²  you will weep ³  and wail, ⁴  but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, ⁵  but your sadness will turn into ⁶  joy. 16:21 When a woman gives birth, she has distress ⁷  because her time ⁸  has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being ⁹  has been born into the world. ¹⁰ 

[11:35]  ¹ sn Jesus wept. The Greek word used here for Jesus’ weeping (ἐδάκρυσεν, edakrusen) is different from the one used to describe the weeping of Mary and the Jews in v. 33 which indicated loud wailing and cries of lament. This word simply means “to shed tears” and has more the idea of quiet grief. But why did Jesus do this? Not out of grief for Lazarus, since he was about to be raised to life again. L. Morris (John [NICNT], 558) thinks it was grief over the misconception of those round about. But it seems that in the context the weeping is triggered by the thought of Lazarus in the tomb: This was not personal grief over the loss of a friend (since Lazarus was about to be restored to life) but grief over the effects of sin, death, and the realm of Satan. It was a natural complement to the previous emotional expression of anger (11:33). It is also possible that Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus because he knew there was also a tomb for himself ahead.

[16:20]  ² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:20]  ³ tn Or “wail,” “cry.”

[16:20]  ⁴ tn Or “lament.”

[16:20]  ⁵ tn Or “sorrowful.”

[16:20]  ⁶ tn Grk “will become.”

[16:21]  ⁷ sn The same word translated distress here has been translated sadness in the previous verse (a wordplay that is not exactly reproducible in English).

[16:21]  ⁸ tn Grk “her hour.”

[16:21]  ⁹ tn Grk “that a man” (but in a generic sense, referring to a human being).

[16:21]  ¹⁰ sn Jesus now compares the situation of the disciples to a woman in childbirth. Just as the woman in the delivery of her child experiences real pain and anguish (has distress), so the disciples will also undergo real anguish at the crucifixion of Jesus. But once the child has been born, the mother’s anguish is turned into joy, and she forgets the past suffering. The same will be true of the disciples, who after Jesus’ resurrection and reappearance to them will forget the anguish they suffered at his death on account of their joy.