Reasons Jesus Cried
Posted in Brandon's Posts, crying, jesus, Reasons My Son Is Crying, weeping 0 comments
Yesterday my wife looked at the tumblr account "Reasons My Son Is Crying." Our Facebook friends kept posting it so we finally bit and took a look.
If you haven't gone over to see it, google it. Better yet, just click here. But make sure to come back and finish this post. Thanks.
For those of you who haven't taken a look and wont google or click, let me explain (The rest of you can skip this paragraph). It's a tumblr account filled with pictures of a little boy crying and underneath each picture is a description of why he started crying. Things like "We wouldn't let him open the hotel room door and run naked through Time Square."
My wife and I laughed a lot looking through those pictures. Mostly because we have been in many of those same situations where our 2 year old cries hysterically because I wont keep switching the TV between Word World and Thomas after 2 minutes of each one.
Then as tends to happen I started thinking about lessons to write or blogs to post and those pictures came to mind. Then I thought, "Why did Jesus cry?" So here is a list of moment when Jesus cried.
When Lazarus died we are told Jesus wept. (John 11:35)
He wept over the city of Jerusalem thinking about its future destruction. (Luke 19:41)
Those are actually the only two recorded places where Jesus cries.
The first is over the loss of a friend. In the verses that follow we see that Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. So why would He cry? I like to believe He sees the pain in Mary and Martha's faces. He feels for them. Lazarus was a friend to Jesus, and he had passed away. That is heart-wrenching.
Then when Jesus weeps over Jerusalem he is thinking of the chaos and turmoil that will be experienced in the years to come. He feels the pain of others.
I know empathy doesn't come easily to some. Jenny and I used to regularly watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. We would call it our weekly cry (I know...I'm painting a very manly picture of myself right about now). I feel for other people. When I see pain in their faces, it breaks my heart. And I think that's good.
I'm not telling you to cry more or even to get all touchy feely with everyone around you. But it is good to put yourself in someone else's shoes. See what they see, and sometimes try to imagine what they feel. When we slow down and take time to do that, it will provide great opportunities for us to share Jesus with them.
See, Jesus does understand what people are going through, but they don't know He does. They can't know it unless they see that care in the people around them. God uses us to show His love to others.
So look at those around you. Is there someone going through a painful situation? Instead of telling them to just suck it up and move on (Jesus could have raised Lazarus immediately but wept first) take time to put yourself in their shoes. And if the situation calls for it...cry with them.
If you haven't gone over to see it, google it. Better yet, just click here. But make sure to come back and finish this post. Thanks.
For those of you who haven't taken a look and wont google or click, let me explain (The rest of you can skip this paragraph). It's a tumblr account filled with pictures of a little boy crying and underneath each picture is a description of why he started crying. Things like "We wouldn't let him open the hotel room door and run naked through Time Square."
My wife and I laughed a lot looking through those pictures. Mostly because we have been in many of those same situations where our 2 year old cries hysterically because I wont keep switching the TV between Word World and Thomas after 2 minutes of each one.
Then as tends to happen I started thinking about lessons to write or blogs to post and those pictures came to mind. Then I thought, "Why did Jesus cry?" So here is a list of moment when Jesus cried.
When Lazarus died we are told Jesus wept. (John 11:35)
He wept over the city of Jerusalem thinking about its future destruction. (Luke 19:41)
Those are actually the only two recorded places where Jesus cries.
The first is over the loss of a friend. In the verses that follow we see that Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. So why would He cry? I like to believe He sees the pain in Mary and Martha's faces. He feels for them. Lazarus was a friend to Jesus, and he had passed away. That is heart-wrenching.
Then when Jesus weeps over Jerusalem he is thinking of the chaos and turmoil that will be experienced in the years to come. He feels the pain of others.
I know empathy doesn't come easily to some. Jenny and I used to regularly watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. We would call it our weekly cry (I know...I'm painting a very manly picture of myself right about now). I feel for other people. When I see pain in their faces, it breaks my heart. And I think that's good.
I'm not telling you to cry more or even to get all touchy feely with everyone around you. But it is good to put yourself in someone else's shoes. See what they see, and sometimes try to imagine what they feel. When we slow down and take time to do that, it will provide great opportunities for us to share Jesus with them.
See, Jesus does understand what people are going through, but they don't know He does. They can't know it unless they see that care in the people around them. God uses us to show His love to others.
So look at those around you. Is there someone going through a painful situation? Instead of telling them to just suck it up and move on (Jesus could have raised Lazarus immediately but wept first) take time to put yourself in their shoes. And if the situation calls for it...cry with them.
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