“Jesus wept.”

It was in my mind when I awoke this morning, that simple, two-word sentence from scripture. I hadn’t recently read it, or even thought about it, but it was there.

I’m also not sad, not mourning, not bereft of anything. But I have been, so I’ve come know their power. I know how it helps to be able to relate to the very Son of God, knowing that He gets it. Jesus wept because He lost a dear friend. The interesting thing is, He knew He was going to raise that friend from the dead – He knew Lazarus would live again – and yet, He still wept with grief.

When we lose someone we love, and they are believers, we know we’ll see them again. We know they are alive in heaven, well and whole, and yet we still grieve. That pain is real and that brokenness is not something to be stuffed away or dealt with by a cursory band-aid application and a quick blow of the nose. Just like Jesus, it calls for us to stop and cry it out before we move on.

I’m thankful for those two little words because, though I may not be in that place today, like I have in the past, I will be again. There’s no doubt about it. I will need that reminder from my Savior that while He was fully God, He was also fully human. I will need that reminder that tears are valuable healers, never wasted.

Maybe you will, too.

“Jesus wept.” John 11:35 NIV (Click here for entire story)

“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” Psalm 56:8 ESV

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 ESV

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3 ESV