Warning: tear jerker

Jesus wept. (John 11:35)

Sometimes you don’t need words to express how you’re feeling.  If you’re annoyed at someone you might roll your eyes.  If you’re scared you may let out a yelp or even a scream.  And if you’re sad you might even cry.

One of the most reassuring things about Jesus is not that He is the Almighty God, which he is, and it is reassuring.  No, the best and most comforting thing about Jesus is that while He is fully God, He is still human.  That means He feels all our emotions: fear, pain, joy, sorrow.

When His friend Lazarus died, Jesus cried.  Could He have walked in, tossed all the professional mourners out and raised Lazarus with a snap of His fingers?  Of course.  So why didn’t He?

Because He was sad His friend had died.

Sometimes we get caught up in the “awesomeness” of Jesus.  He is God, and He came to beat sin, death, and the Devil.  But He also came to have a relationship with us.  And the best way to do that was to experience every human emotion.  Even feeling sad that someone He knew had died.  Because Jesus knew something very important: that even death had to obey Him.

And that is a reason for us to be very, very glad.

Prayer:

Lord, we thank You for embracing our humanity and our emotions so that we could know You better.  Help us to realize that there is no emotion we can experience that you have not already felt.  And that you will always be there to comfort us in our pain, and celebrate with us in our joy.

Amen