We frame someone’s sadness as proof they failed. And we miss the holy strength it takes to feel deeply and still show up. Death wasn’t the end of this story. Even Lazarus being called out of the tomb isn’t the climax. It’ll be the resurrection of the Son of God which is the first fruits of our own.

Emotions are such a funny thing. And we’re not the greatest at reading them in other people. They also have a tendency to expose our own hearts. Real honest emotion is usually vulnerable. And how we respond to this vulnerability says quite a bit about us.

Take John 11:17-44 as an example. We read a couple times that Jesus is “deeply moved in his spirit” and that he is “greatly troubled”. This is also the passage where we see that “Jesus wept.”

But John uses a different word for “wept” as it pertains to Jesus than what he uses for Mary, Martha, and the Jews attending the funeral proceedings. Their weeping is the kind that is a public cry–it’s the deep mourning and lamentation. But it COULD also be performative. The word for Jesus–used only here–is a word that is more of the quiet hot tears. The kind that you can’t fake.

It takes boldness, bravery, authenticity, and yes vulnerability to weep differently than the crowd. Jesus does that. He’s entering into their grief more powerfully than any of the others in attendance.

But Jesus isn’t entirely quiet in this passage. The word that John uses for “deeply moved” is an intense word. It’s a word you’d use for someone snorting in anger. It’s indignation. Scholars debate exactly what Jesus is angry about…personally, I think it’s the whole situation. The death, the pain, the unbelief attending it, the performative mourning, just everything it means to be human in the face of death.

And John also says that He’s troubled in himself. He’s disturbed, unsettled, stirred up. He willingly enters into this sorrow of humanity. Jesus is wearing His emotions on His sleeve. Probably in such a way that He’d be rebuked by some well-meaning Chrsitians today.

And when people in attendance see Jesus expressing those emotions…the Son of God emotionally vulnerable…we see at least two responses. One response, “See how much he loved him…”

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