My Favourite Aspect of Jesus

Something our American culture lacks a lot of is empathy. I think of this especially as an issue for our men. Too often we’re told to ‘man up’, ‘grow up’, ‘stop crying’, or even, ‘be stronger’. We view vulnerability and weakness as something to hide. It gets looked at it likes it’s something that will hurt us. You know what will hurt us even more? Keeping everything bottled up will hurt us more. We ought to allow others to empathize for us so that we can heal in a healthy, Godly way. Empathy is something that is so important to the human mind and the healing of ones heart and emotions. If empathy isn’t important, then why did Jesus empathize with others?

If you were to ask me what my favourite aspect of Jesus is, I’d probably tell you His empathy is what I’m so taken over by. I’m just so in love with the empathetic part of Jesus. One of the more popular verses in the Scriptures, which also happens to be the shortest verse in the Bible, is John 11:35. John states, “Jesus wept” (ESV). We’ve all heard of this verse in Sunday school trivia, but it took until about a year ago when I finally understand the context. To summarize the context of the passage, Jesus went back to a town in which He was just threatened to have been killed, but decided to go anyways. When He made it back to Judea, He met with Mary and Martha, the sisters of a man by the name of Lazarus, who had died just four days prior to Jesus’ arrival. Mary and Martha began to question why Jesus couldn’t have been there to protect Lazarus from death, then began to weep. Being moved by their hurting, Jesus empathized with them and wept. He then went to the tomb of Lazarus and raised him from the dead. There is a lot to unpack from the text, but I think the thing that hits me the most is this: to think that Jesus took time to weep, following the death of Lazarus, with a full understanding that He would soon raise Lazarus from the dead, simply to show empathy to His children. Like—what? You would think He’d just say, “Guys don’t weep. Instead, watch this!”, then raise Lazarus. But no. He was actually moved by Mary and Martha’s weeping, and took the time to weep with them, just to show that He is the Great Empathizer. Sometimes all we need is empathy. Way too often we’re told to ‘toughen up’, or ‘man up’, and keep it all bottled up, when in reality, sometimes all we need is someone to empathize with us. We need to remember that sometimes the best way to heal is to just let it all out and talk to someone you trust. Tell them everything. Allow them to empathize with you. Jesus had empathy for those whom He loved, and if our goal as followers of Christ is to conform to the image of His Son, then why aren’t we doing that? Sometimes carrying each other’s burdens looks like empathy. Sometimes it’s hard to empathize, sometimes it’s easy. However we mustn’t allow the ease of a situation determine how we handle it. Thank You Jesus, for being the Great Empathizer, and showing empathy to me.

-Jack Hilsher