So, the question is not only was Jesus sad? Yes, without pretending. The deeper question is this, why would Jesus weep when he already knew Lazarus was about to rise? That means John 11:35 cannot be reduced to a sentimental proof that Jesus had emotions, it reveals something more concentrated. The Savior who has authority over death is not emotionally distant from the people death has wounded, his tears do not cancel his power, they reveal the kind of Savior who holds that power.
Shows Up Or Gets Buried
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John makes sure you understand the relationship, this is not a stranger in a crowd, this is Martha, this is Mary, this is Lazarus, this is the household in Bethany where Jesus was welcomed, known and loved. Then Jesus says something that only makes sense if he already sees the destination, John 11:4, that does not mean Lazarus will not actually die, Jesus will say plainly that Lazarus is dead, it means death will not be the final outcome of this sickness, the story will pass through death, but it will not end there. So, before the tears ever fall, John wants one thing settled, Jesus knows, he is not confused, he is not trapped, he is not rushing to fix a mistake, he names the final purpose before anyone else can see past the sickness, later when Jesus’ disciples misunderstand and think Lazarus is only sleeping, Jesus says plainly, Lazarus is dead.
The carnal mind is not simply a mind that thinks about wrong things, it is a mind that has established its own sovereignty as the final criterion for everything. The carnal mind evaluates suffering by asking, why is this happening to me? The carnal mind evaluates success by asking, what have I accomplished? The carnal mind evaluates the other by asking, what can they offer me? The carnal mind is not necessarily a malicious mind, it can even be a religious, disciplined, morally striving mind, the problem is not the intention, it is the center of gravity.
The spiritual mind for its part, is not a mind that only thinks about religious matters or lives in constant prayer without contact with everyday reality, Paul was not describing a mysticism disconnected from practical life. The spiritual mind is one that has learned to interpret reality from a reference that is beyond itself. The spiritual mind reads suffering with the eyes of the promise. The spiritual mind evaluates the present, in light of the eternal. The spiritual mind recognizes in the other, not just a human interlocutor, but someone carrying the weight and dignity of being created in the image of God.
This spiritual mind, Romans 8:6, produces life and peace, two words that Pauline vocabulary are never fleeting feelings, but states of being rooted in an objective reality. What makes this distinction especially uncomfortable, is that it does not divide humanity between good people and bad people, between religious and irreligious, it cuts across the very heart of the believer. The carnal mind does not automatically disappear with conversion, it coexists, resists, tries to regain control in pressure situations, in difficult decisions, in moments when faith seems too abstract to be helpful. The transformation of the mind, Romans 12:2, is an ongoing process, not a one-time event and Romans chapter 8 is the theological foundation upon which this process makes sense.
Romans 8:14-17, what it means to be a Christian, a concept that goes far beyond the language of obedience and disobedience, of right and wrong, of divine approval and disapproval, Paul speaks of adoption as children. In the Roman world of the first century, adoption was not a sentimental gesture, it was a legal act with permanent and irreversible consequences. An adopted child received the father’s name, assumed his legal rights, inherited his possessions and was responsible for his obligations. There was no legal distinction between the biological child and the adopted one, both were heirs with the same right, slave or free.
Romans 8:15, the believers received the spirit of adoption by which we cry, abba, father, Paul is affirming something of enormous weight. The word abba describes a familial intimacy that goes beyond religious protocol, it is not the Lord Almighty of formal liturgy, it is the father that a child calls out to, when they are afraid or hungry or simply wants to be near. The Holy Spirit of God, who dwells in the believer, produces exactly this quality of relationship, not as a mystical aspiration for a few enlightened ones, but as a reality available to anyone who has received the Holy Spirit, this completely changes the way a person relates to God in day-to-day life.
Romans 8:18-22, the word creation encompasses everything that has been made, the natural world, the animals, the elements, the structure of the cosmos, this creation was subjected to vanity, which carries the sense of futility, incompleteness of existence below its original potential, not by its own choice, but because of him who subjected it. The world is not evil in itself, but it is operating on a frequency below that for which it was designed, awaiting a restoration that has not yet fully arrived. The groaning that Paul describes is not the groaning of hopeless deterioration, it is the groaning of childbirth which pre-supposes that something new is about to be born.
What Paul is building here, is a vision of redemption that is not limited to the individual soul or even the human community, salvation from this perspective has cosmic dimensions. The glory that will be revealed in the children of God, is not merely a personal and internal reality, it is something that the entire creation is waiting to see manifested, as if the restoration of humanity to its original vocation, would be the signal that would unlock something greater in the fabric of the universe.
