Myths about Christmas – that Jesus never wept

Another myth that has developed, and perhaps most because of the song “Away in a Manger”, is that as a baby, Jesus never wept (remember the lines … “no crying he makes” as he “lay down his sweet head”).

On what basis is there for saying that Jesus was a tear-free baby. While I don’t deny the possibility that it is true, the story from the bible is silent as to whether baby Jesus was a bawler or not. However, my main problem with the idea that as a baby Jesus never cried is that at some point during his childhood (or perhaps even in adulthood) he developed the ability. In the gospel of John at Chapter 11, verse 35, it states, in what is perhaps the shortest sentence in the bible, that “Jesus wept” after seeing and hearing about the death of Lazarus. (He also wept upon seeing Jerusalem in the gospel of Luke Chapter 19 verse 41)

Without intending on being sacrilegious or blasphemous, if Jesus was fully human, then it would follow that as a baby he would have been just as dependent as every other baby that has ever existed or will ever exist on those around him for feeding, comforting, cleaning, nourishing and nurturing. I just cannot believe and nor does it make any sense that Jesus cried like a baby as an adult and lived like an adult as a baby and this idea is, in my opinion, another Christmas myth.