Perhaps the saddest scene in the movie “Gladiator” is the one where Russell Crowe rushed home to find that soldiers had killed his wife and son. As he stood there touching his wife’s feet the tears and snot flowed down his face because of his broken heart. However it was done, they produced a graphic scene that depicted the reality of a truly heart-broken sobbing man. And, since it was such a personal pain, and he was a man’s man in the movie, we suspend the “bro’ code” and let him cry openly. No husband or father could condemn him in that situation.

While there’s obviously no video of David crying about the death of his son Absalom we can get a good picture in our mind because the text says: “The king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept” (2 Samuel 18:33). If you’re having a hard time picturing it look up the Russell Crowe scene online. As we noted yesterday it was so bad that it not only broke the bro’ code it undermined the entire army that had just risked their lives to save David’s (2 Samuel 19:1-7).

That being said, it’s possible there’s additional, more positive way of understanding that scene of David’s heart break over the death of Absalom. It may also serve as an illustration of why he’s a man after God’s own heart. We sometimes forget that God has a heart too. Remember Samuel’s declaration to Saul: “Yahweh has sought a man after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14) and describes His own actions in emotional terms (angry, grieved, etc.).

If God gets angry at the sin we commit how should we think He felt when Jesus died on the cross? Is it possible that even as He poured out His wrath at our sin that His heart was breaking as Jesus cried out in anguish? Remember the sky was darkened for three hours. The earth shook, the dead came out their graves for a short time, and the temple veil tore down the middle from top to bottom. God was no passive heartless observer.

Now let’s get personal. Is it possible that God cries when we break His code? Is it possible His heart is broken when we turn away from Him and choose to sin? We had better believe it’s more than possible, and turn to the one who loves us enough to hurt for us even more than we do ourselves.