Jesus and His Tears

Hebrews 4:15-16 ESV

For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but who in every respect has been tempted
as we are, yet without sin.
Let us then with confidence
draw near to  the throne of grace,
that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help in time of need.

At seventy-plus, the more I get to know Jesus, the more I love Him, admire Him, and wonder at who He has always been, at who He is right now, and at who He will always be. The more I get to know Jesus, the more I begin to understand how God’s Love so clearly expressed in Him, is all my hope and joy and peace. The more I get to know Jesus, the more I wonder at what He does as He redeems the lives of people around me in ways which amaze me so. I can only fall on my knees and praise Him. I can only trust Him more and more each day as I desire to serve Him. I can only long  more and more for that promised day when I shall see His absolute beauty face-to-face.

There are so many facets to Jesus’ beauty. I could not begin to mention them all in one sitting. This week I will focus my heart and mind and hopefully yours, on the fact that God came in the person of Jesus to truly live as our Immanuel, God-among us. He came as the Son of God and as the Son of Man, just as had been prophesied for hundreds of years. So, not only did He have the love and the power and the wisdom of God; but He also had the feelings, faced the temptations, and lived with the aches and pains of being a man. Like us, He had to eat or feel hunger. Like us He had to drink or feel thirst. Like us he had to rest of feel tired. Like us He was tempted in every way, and yet He NEVER sinned. So, in the end, Jesus understands us, for He has been where we are. He has experienced the challenges we face. He has dealt with the disappointments, the shattered hopes, the sense of betrayal, and  the unjust persecution we have endured. Jesus knows our trials. He knows our anguish. He knows our weariness. In a word, Jesus CARES.

This is perhaps most clearly illustrated on those fateful days when Jesus wept. His emotions ran strong like ours, and when face-to-face with the horror and the ugliness of death, He wept. When confronted with the absolute rejection of His own city and His own people, He wept. When in the Garden and facing the abominable task He must undertake if we were to be delivered from our sin and death, He wept. Still it sounds odd for me to say, but it is true: I am so glad Jesus wept. I am so glad He wept because of His Love. I am so glad He wept because of His frustration with our sin. I am so glad He wept under the weight of His decision to fulfill His destiny as the perfect Lamb of God.

I DO LOVE MY SMILING JESUS

I do love my smiling Jesus
as I imagine Him in a meadow
surrounded by laughing children
as He tells them His Father’s stories.

I treasure my smiling Jesus
as He laughs, walking a muddy road
toward the Sea of Galilee with
His beloved disciples.

I enjoy my smiling Jesus
forcefully preaching God’s truth,
illustrating His perfect way,
in a parable so convincing.

Still, I love my weeping Jesus
as I feel His heart break for Martha,
then Mary as they grieve the death
of their brother, His dear Lazarus.

I treasure my weeping Jesus
as He weeps over His own city,
Jerusalem, still refusing
her last chance for His redemption.

I hold dear my weeping Jesus
who kneels heart-broken, alone
in Gethsemane, surrendering
His body, His soul for our atonement.

Do you love your smiling Jesus?
Do you love your weeping Jesus?
He deepens our every joy,
He shoulders our every burden.

John 11: 33-35 ESV
When Jesus saw. Her (Mary) weeping,
and the Jews who had come with her also weeping,
he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
And he said, “Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus wept.

Jesus valued deep relationships with friends, including Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. We are told Mary sat at Jesus’ feet to hear His teaching. We are also told Mary anointed Jesus’ feet, giving clear witness to Him as her Lord. Martha, being a woman of action, gave her testimony to Jesus by serving Him with all her strength. Jesus deeply loved them both, along with their brother Lazarus. So, Jesus made one of His toughest choices to obey the Father, when He chose to delay two days before He went to Martha and Mary in answer to their message about Lazarus’ illness. Jesus grieved for His three friends, even as He awaited God’s timing. Then He resolutely headed toward Bethany, while His disciples were second-guessing Him. He knew also that He would meet Lazarus buried, and Martha and Mary grieving. Martha, unsurprisingly, took immediate action upon hearing He had come. In her grief she was confused. She knew how He loved her brother. Why had He delayed His coming until it was too late? Jesus bears her sorrow and gives her reassurance. Even in the midst of her pain, she proclaims her faith. Then she calls Mary to Jesus. Her sorrow overwhelms Him as she falls at His feet. While those around her weep, He also weeps. As the Son of Man, Jesus knows their sorrows. He knows the hopelessness, the emptiness of death. Then He goes on to act as the Son of God and calls Lazarus from the tomb; and as He does He knows He has taken His first step as the Lamb of God. He will surely lay down His life for Lazarus, for Martha, for Mary and for us all. “I love my weeping Jesus.”

And when he drew near and saw the city,
he wept over it, saying,
”Would that you, even you,
had known on this day
the things that make for peace!
But now they are hidden from your eyes.
For the days will come upon you,
when your enemies will set up a barricade around you
and surround you and hem you in on every side
and tear you down to the ground,
you and your children within you.
And they will not leave one stone upon another in you,
because you did not know the time of your visitation.

All around Jesus a great crowd of disciples were were shouting , “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Luke 19; 38 ESV) Just imagine the ignorance of the Pharisees who insist He silence those disciples. His reply reveals His power: “I tell you, if these (people) were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19: 40 ESV) But then He does a remarkable thing; he weeps over the city. He feels real grief over the choice Jerusalem’s leaders and people will make. They will reject the very One God has sent to bring them peace. Jerusalem, as a result, will be destroyed completely. As the Son of God, Jesus knows the destiny the rulers and the city are choosing, as they reject their Messiah. Because He is the Son of Man He weeps over their destiny—the certainty of their destruction because they have rejected God’s Son and the redemption He offers. Yes, “I love my weeping Jesus.”

Matthew 26: 36-39
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane,
and he said to his disciples,
Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”
And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee,
he began to be troubled and sorrowful.
Then he said to them,
“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death;
remain here, and watch with me.
And going a little farther He fell on his face and prayed,
saying, “My Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me;
nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

Jesus had always known this day would come. He had repeatedly tried to prepare His disciples for the horrible events which would darken this day. In their humanity they were not ready to accept God’s Way for the Redemption of the world. Now, they would be traumatized by the reality of His arrest, His trial, His crucifixion and His burial. He would suffer more than they could begin to understand, and more than He as the Son of Man could bear to consider. And so, He prayed to the Father three times—but He ultimately knew this was the only way. He had to fulfill His reason for coming to earth as the Lamb of God. His life had been perfect, spotless. Now, He must lay down His life and carry the burden of all the sins of the world on the cross—and for the first time in eternity—be separated from the Father. His was to be the ultimate act of obedience in all of human history. His was to be the most costly act of obedience in all of human history. His was to be the most loving act of sacrifice in all of human history. So Jesus struggled through His prayer as He made His commitment to accomplish this awesome feat.

Hebrews 5:7 ESV

In the days of his flesh,
Jesus offered up prayers and supplications,
with loud cries and tears
to him who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.

Jesus said in the end, “Your Will be done.” In so doing He began the process of, even as the perfect Lamb of God, taking upon Himself all the sins of the world; yours, mine, and every person’s. He began the process of making it possible for every person to find in Him and His sacrifice forgiveness of their sins and eternal life. As the Son of God Jesus knew what had to be done, and as the Son of Man He poured out His heart to the Father, dreading the spiritual and physical agony—and accepting it as the most important thing He came to earth to do.

Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,
for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”

Because Jesus wept with Martha and Mary, we know He understands our pain when our hearts are broken with grief—and He CARES. Because Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem, we know He understands the unbearable weight of sin and its disastrous consequences—and He CARES.  Because His heart breaks as He considers the cost of paying for our sins when those sins will separate Him from the Father for the first time in eternity, we know He knows the cost of sin—and He CARES. Oh yes, praise God! “I love my weeping Jesus.” Don’t you?