Jesus had real feelings & real friends.
The Gospels revealed Jesus’ teachings & miracles… But one of the things we’ve focused on during our “Conversations about Jesus” is that Jesus was human. He had this intense human side. He had human relationships, deep relationships with the people around Him, and He had real feelings.
Who’s your best friend?! You’ve shared countless inside jokes, similar interests, hobbies — you’ve shared secrets, vulnerabilities, heartbreaks, joys, etc. Jesus experienced that, too, as both man and God.
So let’s talk about one of Jesus’ best friends – Lazarus – from John 11.
This is a full-blown picture of Jesus’ human emotions that are combined with His divine knowledge and power. We are able to see His personal relationships on full display with the death of his friend, Lazarus, and what this means for us, as friends of Jesus, who also experience the reality of death.
Jesus wept.
- Are you a crier?
- Some think crying is a sign of weakness… Do you?
- Some think weeping is a denial of faith… Do you?
Jesus models for us that sorrow is something that needs to be felt. Grief is a part of life. Even though He knew that, in mere moments, Lazarus would be raised to life by Him, Jesus still cried over the loss of His friend.
READ John 11:32-36.
The Greek word underlying “deeply moved” or “greatly troubled” is embrimaomai. It is used elsewhere in the New Testament, in John 11:38, Matthew 9:30 (“sternly warned”), Mark 2:43 (“sternly charged”), and Mark 14:5 (“scolded”). In all instances, it means to feel something deeply and strongly:
Jesus was moved with profound sorrow at the death of his friend and at the grief that his other friends had suffered. In addition, this sorrow was intermixed with anger at the evil of death.
Not only was Jesus deeply moved, but John says that He was deeply moved in His spirit when He witnessed the palpable grief around Him. The phrase, “In his spirit” here is not referring to the Holy Spirit but to Jesus’ own human spirit (ESV). This grief is a human reality (felt by His Human spirit), but life and resurrection are divine realities (the Holy Spirit).
Jesus’ human spirit reveals that heartfelt mourning in the face of death is not an indication of a lack of faith — of doubt — but it is honest grief at the reality of death and suffering.
