Sorrow to God

“He began to be sorrowful and troubled.”
-Of Jesus, hours before he died (Matthew 26:37)

I used to struggle with this idea: that God was anything like me. 

God is all-powerful and all-knowing—he doesn’t laugh at jokes, and he certainly doesn’t cry when he’s mad.

And, maybe those things. Or maybe they’re not.

But what that idea misses is the point of relationships. To believe God doesn’t have emotions is to misunderstand half of what Jesus said and did on Earth.

When his friend Lazarus died, he did cry. The countless times he saw the poor abused, he was angry. And, undoubtedly, when he saw people, like the centurion, who displayed such great faith, act on that faith, he was happy and “marveled.”

The stoics among us–which I understand well–look for another explanation.

But the truth is, emotions are a thing to embrace, not conquer.