The Tears of Jesus

Buddha with Flowers
Stand in front of Buddha and say, "My child is sick and dying of fever."
Buddha would not say, "Go thy way; thy son liveth",(John 4:50)

Buddha remains expressionless.

When you weep, he does not weep, for there is nothing alive to acknowledge your presence;
he is just an idol.
Look to all the other religions of the world and you will not find in their particular prophets any intimate identification with people.
The tearful, the suffering, the brokenhearted bring no emotion at all in their eyes.

Our God is different!

The Son of God, wanting to identify with the world that men might know how God is loving and concerned, came to live among us. He did not weep all the time he was on earth. There were times when he was angry. Surely there were times when joy lit up his face.

Suffer the Little Children

Children followed him in throngs, and children do not often follow a weeping man. Often there must have been a smile about his lips, a twinkle in his eyes. There was a tender touch from his hand. People were able to see him, to touch him, and to be touched by him in return.

He did not always weep, but when the Son of God wept, it should claim our attention. I am not sure that he wept for the same reasons we do. The tears of Jesus take him out of the realm of theology and place him beside us in our everyday life.

Jesus wept more over the living than the dead,
while we weep more over the dead than over the living.

• If we wept more over the living, perhaps there would be fewer tears at their death-- over being too late for apology, over incomplete tasks, bitter failure, and lack of love. Jesus wept for different reasons.

Most of our tears are over ourselves -- something we did or something we failed to do.
It is said that Alexander wept because he had no more kingdoms to conquer.
Jesus could not and would not weep for this because He conquered all that he came to conquer.
Jesus conquered death, the last enemy. He closed the doors of hell to those who would seek the doors of heaven. He did not die as one who had failed to live.

• Regardless of the amount of our years, we will always have things left undone. Jesus lived the only completed life that this world has ever known.

Jesus did not weep over personal sins, for he had none.

Why did Jesus weep?

Detail of Statue of Christ in Church, Mexico

• He wept over individuals.The misery of one small child brings tears to the eyes of Jesus. He wept over Lazarus' death. He wept with Mary and Martha because they were his friends -- because they were hurt, he felt the hurt. This was empathy; you feel as your friends feel. It was a real, personal thing to him. He cried in compassion and sympathy.
  

• He wept over a lost city because of its spiritual blindness and inevitable judgment. "And when he was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it"(Luke 19:41)"Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem! how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not." (Luke 13:34)
  

On the cross, he "Cried with a loud voice..My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46)

It was the only time he cried for himself -- and yet his suffering was for us.

If we have not lost our compassion and our involvement with the world, we too will weep sympathetically with his suffering and concern over those who reject him. Tears are not a weakness. God does not condemn tears, but promises His children that he "shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" (Rev. 21:4), and turn sorrow to rejoicing.

There shall be many tears at the day of judgment, tears of dismay and despair from those who have rejected Him. May our tears be the glad ones of victory, through the poser he has given us to overcome in his name.

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him" (Psalm 126:6)

I Am the Way

Courtesy all posters,
references;
The personal Jesus,
R. Earl Allen

Blessings, Mimi