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The DEEP

Human Emotions

If they're normal for Jesus, they're normal for us.

John 11:28–37

And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, “Where have you laid him?”

They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”

Mary is right; Jesus could have prevented this suffering. Yet, even though the course of events was His choice, He’s not immune to the grief.

The shortest verse in the Bible is one of the most profound— Jesus wept. Even though He knows what He’s going to do next, He still weeps.

This is complicated. Somehow, despite Jesus’s divine nature, and His eternal perspective, He still thinks and feels like a normal person.

He’s fully human, even though He’s fully God.


If Jesus isn’t immune to normal human emotions, we shouldn’t expect Christians to be either. This adds to the previous point about fear and the many dimensions of faith.

While becoming a Christian is the ultimate change in perspective, our emotions don’t change so quickly. Our intellects grasp the new concepts, but our hearts still beat to the old tunes. The things that used to make us angry or fearful still do.

And that will change, at best, slowly.

Beware of “Superman Syndrome”—the assumption that Christians have bulletproof emotions. We still cry at funerals for people who are now in paradise.

That’s not just normal; it’s healthy.


These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.

Mike Slay

As a mathematician, inventor, and ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, Mike Slay brings an analytical, conversational, and even whimsical approach to the daily study of God's Word.

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