What is Empathy & why Jesus wept.

What is empathy Dad? My daughter asked. "It's almost like Sympathy. You know, you look at someone who's hungry or someone who's wounded or shivering in a cold winter night or someone who's poor... and you feel pity. You feel bad!". I answered. But even as I was saying it, I knew that doesn't define empathy. Empathy is something else. Just then a verse from Bible sparked in my mind. A very special verse. That verse is--
"Jesus wept".
This verse is special because it's considered the shortest verse in the Bible. But it's special not just because it's shortest. It's special because it proves Jesus was 100% human. But when u get to know the story, you will also realize why He was 100% God.

So the story goes like this. Jesus was friends with a man called Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. One day when Lazarus was seriously ill and was on a deathbed, Mary and Martha sent a word to their friend Jesus. Now Jesus, was pretty famous those days doing lot of miracles like opening the eyes of the blind, making lame walk, healing lepers and casting away demons etc. So, they wanted Jesus to come and heal their brother but Jesus, despite knowing the seriousness of the situation, stayed where He was doing what He was doing.
Finally Jesus said to his 12 disciples "let's go see Lazarus" and they asked "why?" He said "Lazarus is dead. that's why!". The disciples were surprised that Jesus let his friend die instead of going there and healing. So when Jesus went to the town where Lazarus dwelt, his sisters came running to him. They were weeping, crying and looked devastated with the death of their brother. They held Jesus and said "If only u heard our cry and came immediately...he would have been alive. Now it's 4 days since he is dead". looking at the pain of His friends and their agony, JESUS WEPT.

Jesus wept. That's a proof that He could feel pain and feel helpless. That's a proof that He was 100% human. But Jesus already knew that Lazarus would die. He knew exactly when Lazarus died. Now that's a proof that Jesus was 100% God. From there Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus and calls him out to life. He raised Lazarus- who's dead for 4 days and stinking, back to life. That's 100% God. But then the point is not that here right? The point here is - What is empathy?

Jesus wept. He wept looking at the tears of Mary and Martha. he wept despite knowing that their mourning would turn into a laughter in just few moments. Why? Was He faking an emotion? shedding tears just like that because it's a ritual to mourn along with those who mourn? NO! Jesus, wept, Despite being a God who is in control of the past and future, because He felt their pain. He took their anguish into Him. He became Them. And when He did that, He couldn't hold Himself back. He couldn't control the agony. So He wept. That's what it means to empathize.

Empathy is feeling the hunger of a man who's starving- even though your stomach is full. Empathy is looking at a man who's poor and feeling the pain of not having- even though your pocket is full. Empathy is looking at a JNU student who's skull broken and bleeding, or a Pehlu khan whom the mob is lynching, a Nirbhaya or a Disha who is brutally raped and murdered-empathy is- feeling the pain and the suffering they went though and crying, even though you are sitting comfortably in ur sofa in your cozy home in that moment. Empathy is that.

Empathy is what made God human. Empathy is what makes a christian CHRIST-ian. When you don't have empathy, forget that you are a Christian. You just got a religion.