John 11:35

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Jesus wept.
They're two of the most powerful words in Scripture. I am not sure they are the most powerful because I will never lose sight of simply being forgiven because I believe (John 11:25-26). But as verses go, few show the humanity of the Christ as John 11:35.

Not only was Jesus the great physician, giving sight to the blind, giving legs to the lame, forgiving the outcasts, he was raising the dead. But all the while he bled. He cried. He wept. As a carpenter, his back surely ached from time to time. His feet undoubtedly hurt. But maybe more importantly, he wept.

Think about this. God wept. The creator of the universe wept ... with us. 

I think that is just marvelous news. God wept. In other words, he knows exactly how I feel. He saw us crying and came to comfort us. He saw us trying to repent, and freed us. Here was God manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16) crying with us because he was one of us (Gen. 1:27).

I don't think Jesus wept because his friend Lazarus was dead, and buried. I think he wept for the family that was feeling the sting of sin -- their son, brother, cousin got sick and died. Jesus saw the family in mourning a man who died so that the Father could glorify the Son (John 11:4) and give more people reason to believe (John 11:15). The family didn't understand. But God did.

And now we can believe.

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