March 20

John 11:33-35 (NIV)
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept.

Sometimes we think or have the attitude that Jesus (God) doesn’t have the same emotional make up as we do. While it is true that it isn’t tainted by a sinful nature it is not true that God doesn’t have feelings like we do. We are created in His image and our emotional self was created in the image of our Creator. This passage, if we let it sink in, will bring us to the rightful conclusion that God (Jesus) feels deeply. I think that we don’t realize how deeply He loves us and how heartfelt that love is. We get caught in the “big God in the sky” thinking that has removed the personhood of God, and with that His emotions. Even though Jesus knew that Lazarus would be raised, He was overcome by emotions and wept. Jesus (God) is deeply emotional and expresses that emotion with weeping!

In this particular instance, Jesus was weeping because everyone else was weeping. He saw how grieved people were at the loss of Lazarus and their heart sickness moved His heart to weep for them. He loved them so much that He was deeply moved by them. Are you getting this? Jesus is a deep lover that is moved deeply by His friends. We move the heart of Jesus!