Crying: We make it to relief our feelings and emotions. Jesus, the son of God and an icon of goodness, also wept. Jesus wept from his heart; his silent tears impacted lives throughout the ages. We can’t know the Lord’s sorrows and suffering, but we can learn His comfort and love. It’s only fitting then to explore the biblical instances of Jesus crying and to gain new insights into our Savior.
First and foremost, it’s important to acknowledge that Jesus did not just cry but wept twice in the Bible- once when he saw the great city of Jerusalem and once at the death of his friend Lazarus. During His time in Jerusalem, Jesus was moved to tears as he beheld its plight and approached the gates. As a whole picture of sin, the sight of Jerusalem weighed heavily on the Savior’s heart. Jesus responded with pain, knowing what the city was to become.
The second instance when Jesus wept was at the death of his friend Lazarus. After being told of the death, Jesus reached Lazarus’ tomb and wept. Here was a man, dead because of sin- barred from any level of life, yet Jesus’ sorrow at death was greater than theirs. Watching Jesus weep at the tomb, a sense of hope blossomed in the onlookers; hope connecting a promise of the imperishable life beyond death.
The Bible, recorded Jesus’ weeping in full- not just sadness and pain, but true tears of compassion. He knew of the coming sorrows, pains and betrayals. Yet Jesus’ wept for the people he loved and for every result of sin, even before it happened. It served as a window into his soul, testimony of a heart deeply committed to those around him.
Jesus’ tears make the things of eternity available and accessible. He wept for the wrongdoings of men, pain from His anticipation of the cross and ultimately the loneliness of being man’s only companion in his suffering. Jesus’ tears show a bond of understanding, respect and immeasurable sacrifice.
Faithfulness
Significantly, Jesus’ sorrows attest to His faithfulness. As the Perfect Man, He followed his beliefs relentlessly through a lifetime of trials and struggles. His record of regular prayer and abiding dedication to God’s commands is humbling but essential to grasp the pure intensity of Jesus’ tears.
The fact remains, Jesus grieved in sorrow and wept in pity and compassion. He mourned for others, for the future of Jerusalem and for the future of mankind. His weeping was not that of a man consumed with grief, but a man fearful of the future and dreading the price He would have to pay to minister to the world.
It’s noteworthy to recognize that through Jesus’ weeping, He brought the world the gift of hope- a comprehension of the sufferings of men and something to long for and even to emulate. Jesus’ weeping was a testament to his steadfast faith: to his unwavering commitment and service as a shepherd to sinners.
Awe and Respect
Consequently, Jesus’ tears compel us to pause and reflect, to feel wonder and awe, that Someone should so care for us. We don’t often associate how often Jesus wept in the Bible with shock and amazement, but the two go together: on the one hand, His sorrows testify to His denial, even His anger, that He should reach out to a lost and sinful world. On the other, His tears are a pledge, of sorts, that no one is beyond repentance and grace.
It is also true that Jesus sorrowed for a world in which He gained so little recognition for His efforts and mission. He never had the opportunity to show that with time, God’s purposes can be fully realized and appreciated. Instead, His bravery and self-sacrifice went largely unappreciated, leaving Him with the sorrow of hoping the world would one day accept Him and accept His word.
The truth is, Jesus wept for us and in so doing He made it possible for us to share in His sorrow, in His joy and in His faith.
Broader Applications
Thus, Jesus brought a broader application to the traditional roles of shepherd and sheep. His own sadness concerning a sinful world will motivate and comfort us to persist in our own efforts to reach out to those engulfed in darkness. And even when we don’t succeed, these tears remind us to remain steadfast, bold and filled with remedy and grace.
Jesus’ divine nature, living out the love of God, entailed going against the grain and gaining no political or social gain in the process. Yet, despite this, Jesus still chose to weep not just for the suffering of the world but for the lack of recognition of His own mission and sacrifice.
Jesus’ tenderness to the plight of Jerusalem also speaks to us sternly. Without His example of weeping for others, in grief, shame and disappointment, we too often overlook the real agony and exasperation of many in our current society. His compassion for others can inspire us to see the world through His eyes and provide comfort and support where it is desperately needed.
An Unforgettable Moment
In light of Jesus’s two recorded instances of weepings, it’s easy to dismiss it as a distinctly human occurrence. But Jesus’ weeping transcends the sorrow of mortality and presents a lesson of eternal hope. His weeping invites us closer to understanding the grand mysteries of divine salvation and the intensity of God’s love.
As Christians, Jesus’ example of weeping for others serves as an unforgettable moment to consider our own kindness to those around us. It is also a reminder to us that whatever God has given us, we should in turn strive to give generously to those in need.
Finally, the weeping of Jesus serves as a testament to how no one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy and love. As seen through His tears, Jesus mourns not only the pain of His own suffering but of those who are suffering as well. In His tears, we see His recognition of our plight and of mankind’s great need for Him.
The Power of His Tears
What really emerges is how Jesus uses every interaction to show us how to be paradoxically human (with all its suffering) and divine (with all its grace). Jesus’ sorrow is a conduit for God’s love- a love freely given and powerful in its own right. Jesus used His tears to bring comfort and assurance to those He loved. That is the power of His tears- to show us the weight and grandeur of God’s love and to give us hope as we seek to understand it.
Ultimately, Jesus’ tears are an emblem of His deep connection with all of humanity. He weeps not only for the tragedies of life: for sickness and death, for hypocrisy and sin but also for those occasions of great joy. He weeps for our successes and triumphs, for our accomplishments and joys, for our triumphs over adversity.
In a way, Jesus brings us together and connects us through his tears; no matter the occasion, His tears flow with hope and love and understanding. They remind us of a world where a just and merciful God shows care and tears can symbolize that, a place where His thoughts and words reach and comfort us.
The Need for Endurance
Above all, Jesus’ tumultuous journey of the Bible teaches us that it takes tremendous courage and endurance to be the light of the world. We can all learn from Jesus’ tears, regardless of the situation. As we experience the trials and tribulations of life, these tears become a sustained presence with us, bringing us comfort, counsel and, most of all, courage. Jesus weeps with us and for us, showing us how to keep going.
As we journey through life, encountering sadness and celebration, these tears strengthen our faith, reminding us that just as Jesus bears our sorrows and weeps with us, so too will He bear us up with joy and courage as we traverse this life. These tears, then, serve as a reminder of divine, unconditional love.
In the end, Jesus’ tears are a sign of his tireless love for us, a love that surpasses the depths of sorrow even in the tightest days of our lives.
