Some of us were told that if we really trusted God, we would not cry so much. That grief is a kind of doubt. That we should be past it by now.
Jesus cried. And he did it in front of everyone.
A friend who died
Jesus had close friends in a small village called Bethany. There were two sisters, Martha and Mary, and their brother Lazarus. Jesus stayed at their home. He loved them.
Lazarus got very sick. The sisters sent word to Jesus. By the time he arrived, Lazarus had been dead and buried for four days.
Martha came out to meet him on the road. She said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." Then Mary came, and fell at his feet, and said the same thing.
At the grave
The Gospel of John, one of the four accounts of Jesus's life, tells this part. It says that when Jesus saw Mary crying, and the friends with her crying, he was deeply moved. He asked where they had buried Lazarus. They said, "Lord, come and see."
Jesus wept.
John 11:35 · King James VersionThe original Greek
ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς.
Found in Papyrus 66 (about AD 200), Papyrus 75 (about AD 200), Codex Vaticanus (about AD 325), Codex Sinaiticus (about AD 350).
It is the shortest verse in the whole Bible. The people standing there said, "Behold how he loved him."
Why it matters
Jesus already knew what he was going to do. A few minutes later he stood at the tomb and called Lazarus to come out, and Lazarus walked out alive.
He knew the ending was going to be good. He cried anyway.
That tells us something about God. He does not stand far away from our pain and tell us to cheer up. He stands at the grave with us and cries.
If you are grieving, your tears show how much you loved someone. Jesus cried for his friend too. You are never alone in it.