Jesus wept

Jesus wept (Gospel of John 11:35).

Of course he did.

He claimed “I AM” (Gospel of John 8:58).

His nickname meant “with us” (Gospel of Matthew 1:23).

Put it all together.

When those with whom he found himself were weeping, how could a man who went by the name “I am with you” not weep with them?

The meaning and purpose of Jesus’s name–the meaning and purpose of Jesus, the man, himself–is *here-*ness. *With-*ness.

We have Jesus all wrong if we imagine him passing through humanity like a warm knife through butter.

We have him wrong if we imagine him glowing with heavenly light, floating head and shoulders above the crowd, surrounded by a holy force field.

We have him wrong if we imagine him acting like a god, looking like a god.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not (Book of Isaiah 53:1).

“A man of sorrows and familiar with suffering.”

How could it be any other way? Human life is sorrow and suffering. Jesus is not with us if he is not all the way with us in our sorrow and suffering.

Jesus is not a scientist observing our sorrow and suffering. He’s not a therapist listening to it. He’s not an “undercover boss” playing along with it.

Jesus is an expert at sorrow and suffering. He is the Master of sorrow and suffering. He has been baptized in it. Buried in it.

Don’t go to Jesus for empathy.

Don’t go to him to “fix it.”

Don’t go to him for advice on how to “manage” the suffering of sorrow.

Go to Jesus because he is already weeping for you when you are trying so hard to hold back your own tears. He is already suffering the pain that you are trying to deny and explain away.

Jesus wept.

Why don’t you?