And Jesus Wept

I’ve mentioned before that I love to consider and be reminded of the human side of Jesus. Through prayer and scripture reading, I am always aware of His divine side. But if you pay attention as you read the Bible, the words frequently tell of Jesus’ humanity.

For example, He was angry at those running the marketplace at the temple. So angry, in fact, that He raised His voice and ran through the market, knocking over tables. He was afraid in the Garden of Gethsemene, and wanted His friends to keep Him company as He prayed. He was happy when the children came to see Him, and spent joyful time with them.

And in John’s gospel today, Jesus felt absolute sorrow at seeing his good friend Lazarus lying in the tomb, dead for four days. John lets us know how sad Jesus was using three simple words: And Jesus wept.

It always makes me happy to think about this strong bond between Jesus and the three who I think must have been His best friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Mary and Martha are mentioned twice in the gospels – once in this story about Jesus raising their brother from the dead and once in Luke’s gospel in one of my favorite Bible stories – Martha, the harried housewife, and Mary, the quiet listener. Since they are mentioned in both gospels, I have concluded they are very dear friends.

All of these human emotions experienced by Jesus help me to know that He really can understand my feelings. He can empathize when I’m sad or angry, and share my joy when I’m happy, because He experienced these human feelings.

But Father reminded us in his homily that while Jesus experienced a very human emotion, He went on to show us His divine side by raising Lazarus from the dead as a sign to those watching that He was, indeed, the Messiah. Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” Those are pretty comforting words.

By the way, I always think that Jesus told Lazarus, “You get one pass. The next time your gone from this earth for good!”