Who Is Jesus?

"And Jesus wept." - John 11:35

Over the years as I have tried to grow in faith, I'm constantly confronted with the question, who is Jesus? And then I ask, who am I to Him? My answers to these questions have everything to do with how I approach God and how I live my faith. I remember two years ago I messed up and fell into a sin I kept confessing and confessing. The following day I went into church and fell on my knees sobbing before the tabernacle… I felt deep sadness that I disappointed Him. So then to me is Jesus someone who gets upset at me when I mess up? On another occasion I was also crying to Him because something I had really wanted and had been praying for was snatched out of my hands when it felt so close… so then is Jesus someone who knows what we want, has the ability to answer our prayers, but toys with our emotions anyway? During both of these circumstances in my past, my faith would have faltered, but I had to keep on getting to know who Jesus is, and who I am to Him.

"And Jesus wept" is the shortest verse in the entire bible but it also tells us a lot about Him. When Jesus went to visit His sick friend Lazarus, he was already dead. His sisters went out to greet Jesus with tears running down their cheeks. Although He knew very well that He was about to perform the biggest miracle of His life by resurrecting Lazarus from the dead, Jesus cried alongside Mary and Martha. Why would He cry if He knew Lazarus wouldn't be dead for long? He cried because of who He is… God… who loves us so much that He came down to become one of us and suffer with us, and suffer through the hardest, most painful things humans have to go through, and He did it all willingly with His whole heart devoted to our salvation. When we stop thinking of Jesus as a judge who condemns us for our weaknesses and faults, we will encounter the man who cries with us and feels sympathy for our pain. When we stop thinking of Jesus as a genie who is there to grant us wishes, we will encounter a man who understood in the flesh how not always getting what we want builds character, hope, and perseverance. So as you look to Jesus during your struggles, do you know the man on the other side of your prayers? Do you know the love and support He has for you, regardless of anything you've done, said or thought? If you don't, then your prayers will never really be answered because you will never understand what He is trying to do in your life.

Today's Prayer:
Father, the more I get to know Your Son, the more I encounter a love I don't even feel I deserve, much less can accept. Open my mind and heart to Your great mercy and help me to know who Jesus really is and all that He wants to do for me. In Jesus' Name we pray, amen.