🌿 The Human Side of Jesus — Part 1: Jesus Wept

When we picture Jesus, we often see Him as divine — holy, powerful, radiant in glory. And He is all of that. But sometimes we forget: He was also deeply human.

He didn’t just visit humanity — He entered it. He walked in our shoes, felt our emotions, and carried our burdens.

This series, “The Human Side of Jesus,” is an invitation — for those who’ve heard of Him but never really known Him, and for those who believe yet may have forgotten how human He truly was.

✨ Come along and follow this series, and truly get to know Jesus — not just as the Savior of the world, but as the Friend, the Brother, and the King who understands you completely.

And there’s no better place to begin than with the shortest, yet one of the most powerful verses in all of Scripture:

“Jesus wept.” — John 11:35

💔 A Glimpse Into His Heart

Two words — that’s all John wrote.

Yet those two words pull back the curtain on the tenderness of God Himself.

At this point in the story, Lazarus — one of Jesus’ closest friends — has died. When Jesus arrives in Bethany, Martha and Mary are surrounded by mourners. The air is heavy with grief.

Jesus knows He’s about to raise Lazarus from the dead. He knows joy is only moments away.

But before He performs the miracle, He stops — and He weeps.

Not because He’s powerless.

Not because He doubts what’s about to happen.

But because He feels the full weight of human sorrow.

He enters their pain before He ends it.

🕊️ God Doesn’t Rush Past Our Pain

This moment tells us something essential about God’s character: He doesn’t skip over sorrow.

So often, when we’re hurting, we want God to fix things immediately. We think if He loves us, He should end the pain right now. But Jesus shows another side of love — one that sits in the sorrow with us before bringing resurrection.

He looked at Mary and Martha’s tears and let His own fall beside them.

That’s who He is.

He’s not a God who watches suffering from afar.

He’s a God who kneels beside us in it.

🌍 Why the Humanity of Jesus Matters

The humanity of Jesus isn’t just a comforting idea — it’s a foundational truth of our faith.

If Jesus had not been fully human, He could not have truly represented us, redeemed us, or shown us what perfect obedience looks like in a broken world.

1. His humanity makes His empathy real.

   
   

   When we cry, He doesn’t just “know” about tears — He’s cried them. He’s been lonely, misunderstood, tired, and grieved. This means we never face pain He cannot relate to.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses…” — Hebrews 4:15

2. His humanity makes His sacrifice complete.

   
   

   He didn’t die as a distant deity — He died as one of us. His suffering wasn’t symbolic; it was physical, emotional, and deeply real. Because He was fully human, His death atoned fully for human sin.

   
   

3. His humanity shows us how to live.

   
   

   Jesus modeled what it looks like to walk in the Spirit as a human being — dependent on the Father, compassionate toward others, and steadfast through trials. He didn’t just teach righteousness; He embodied it.

   
   

4. His humanity makes His victory meaningful.

   
   

   When Jesus overcame temptation, pain, and death, He did it as a man. That means His victory can also be ours. His resurrection wasn’t just proof of divine power — it was the triumph of humanity restored.

   
   

5. Without His humanity, God’s love would have stayed abstract.

Because of His humanity, His love became tangible.

And it had to be that way — because we had to know that He knows.

We had to know that He felt what we feel — from the guttural ache of grief to the leaping joy of celebration.

We had to be able to know that He truly understands us to choose Him as our personal Savior.

It’s a perfect design — the perfect example of leadership, of humility, and of what it means to be a true King.

🌹 A God Who Grieves

It’s worth remembering that Jesus wasn’t only mourning Lazarus. He was mourning the world — what sin, death, and separation had done to creation.

In those tears, we glimpse God’s heartbreak over every tragedy, every funeral, every broken heart. He wasn’t weeping out of hopelessness. He was weeping because He cares that deeply.

The cross was already before Him.

And maybe, standing there before the tomb, Jesus was also feeling the heaviness of all the graves He came to overcome.

🌅 The Tears Before the Miracle

Only after He wept did Jesus step forward and call Lazarus out of the tomb.

That order matters.

The tears came before the triumph.

It shows us that sorrow and resurrection often coexist.

Jesus doesn’t tell us to stop crying so He can fix it; He meets us in the weeping and then brings life out of it.

💭 Reflection

When you think about your own moments of heartbreak — loss, betrayal, disappointment, exhaustion — remember this:

Jesus knows.

He’s felt it.

And even now, He feels with you.

Your tears are never unnoticed.

They mingle with His.

And just as He did for Lazarus, He will bring resurrection to the places that feel like tombs in your life.

It might not look the same, but His compassion always leads to redemption.

🌿 Closing Thought

“Jesus wept.”

The shortest verse in Scripture — yet maybe the one that speaks the loudest.

It tells us that the Almighty God is not cold or distant. He is personal, tender, and present in the middle of our pain.

His tears are proof that love can be both strong and soft.

His humanity makes His divinity relatable.

His divinity makes His humanity redemptive.

That’s the Savior we follow.

✨ Coming Next: When Jesus Was Angry

In the next post of this series, we’ll explore another side of His humanity — what His righteous anger teaches us about holy passion, justice, and love that defends.