Diving In

John 11:35

Jesus wept.

What a powerful verse this is. I think a lot of times this verse can be over looked or forgotten because its only two words or we think that crying is a weakness.

The first thing we need to take into consideration is that, crying and weeping are very different from each other. Crying is more of a common word that some times doesn’t have as much meaning as weeping. Weeping carries more emotion, pain and anguish.

With that in mind reading the verse again, it helps us realize that Jesus was fully human in every way. In context, Jesus is weeping bitterly over the death of a good friend. He is bringing himself to a level of pain and anguish so he can understand our pain and hurt. However, being fully God as well, He could have avoided all of it by healing Lazarus before his death.

The other thing is the fact that he is not afraid of showing emotion. How often do we think of crying, or even emotions in general, as a sign of weakness, something that needs to be hidden from the world. That is a lie that we are continuing to believe and put on others. Jesus shows us that emotion are ok. Like they are good.

I think that Jesus uses this as a reminder for us that emotions are good. They show that you deeply care about that person, you are showing empathy, and you just feel deeply. I think attributes like these, are the heart of God. After all he is the most emotion being. He is LOVE.