The Tears of Jesus

Luke 19: 41-44 (NIV)

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you, and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” Opening: As we approach resurrection Sunday may we have the tears of Jesus.

Introduction: As Jesus sees Jerusalem spread out before him, he weeps over the destruction which will come over it unawares. Jerusalem is given its chance to hear the message. The city could have learned the way of peace from his teaching, but it would fail to recognize in his coming the gracious presence of God offering a last opportunity of repentance. Jesus feels the sorrow of the situation. As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. The scriptures frequently depict prophets’ men and women of God crying or weeping as a response to the people and the nations and church’s sin and impending judgment. There is a trail of tears and ducts. Jeremiah is often called the "weeping prophet". Jeremiah 8:18-21: "My heart, my heart, I write in pain! I write in agony, my heart! Oh, the walls of my heart are broken, and my heart writes in pain! My joy is gone, my grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me. Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land. For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me". In Jeremiah 9:1: "Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" But he is not alone there is a trail of tears in the bible. Elisha cried after God revealed to him what the next King of Syria would do against Israel in 2 Kings 20:11: "So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow of the sun ten degrees backward, ..." * Joseph crying after meeting Benjamin (Genesis 43:30), David crying after the death of Absalom (2 Samuel 18:33), James 5:4: "Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." * Acts 20:19: Paul cried during his ministry in Ephesus. And here in this text even Jesus our Savior is weeping, crying teaches us and says to us some important spiritual truths 1) There are things we should make us cry and be deeply concerned about as followers of Jesus. Instead of war, hate, meanness, and division we could have peace. When the New York Times reported that Republican leaders in Congress have directed the committee that oversees Medicaid to cut $880 billion from the next budget. They say these cuts are not necessarily aimed at Medicaid, the insurance program for 72 million poor and disabled. This should make you cry. Today, 800 people will die from poverty. This ought to make us cry. Jesus is entering Jerusalem to die. He said so, “We are going up to Jerusalem … and the Son of Man will be delivered up … and they will kill him” (Luke 18:31–33). This is the meaning of self-denial. This is the way we follow Jesus. We see a need—for Jesus was seeing the sin of the world, and broken bodies, and the misery—and we move with Jesus toward the need whatever it costs. We deny ourselves the comforts and the security and the ease of avoiding other people’s pain. We embrace it. Jesus’ tears were not just the tender moving of his emotions. They were the tears of a man on his way toward need. And we needed a savior. 2.)  There is no shame in crying. St Francis of Assi’s MAY GOD BLESS YOU with discomfort, at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. May God bless you with tears, to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain to joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness of faith to believe that you can make a difference in the world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor. Amen. Crying reveals a heart moved with compassion, not shame. On the contrary, I appeal to you today to pray that God would give you tears. There is so much pain in the world. So much suffering far and near. Pray that God would help this nation to be tenderly moved with tears. 3) There are times our tears are stronger witness and worship. Tears can be seen as a form of "liquid prayer" or a "sacrament of love," a way to communicate with the divine when words fail and are not enough. Take for example the sinful woman in the gospel of Luke 7 she came to where Jesus was having dinner with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. Jesus forgives her many sins—as her great love has shown. Tears have power. Tears can get people’s attention and God’s attention. Psalm 56:8 "You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Whatever Jesus cried over he blessed. He delivered. As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it When Jesus wept in Greek it is “Klaio. “Clay O” which means to bewail. As it was when he heard of Lazarus’ death before raising him from dead. Jesus wept. He cried out to the Father when he went to Gethsemane. The hymn writer William Gaither wrote * * They That Sow in Tears" Though it seems that your prayers have been in vain Though your faith the world would destroy Though your heart should ache 'til it breaks in two. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. For God is on His throne. Richard Smallwood wrote adding to it Psalm 126 * * Darkness will fall and tears will come * For all of these things comes to everyone * But in God's Word, It's promised to us * If you sow in tears you'll reap in joy * Tears are for cleansing, stress and relief * Created by God just to give us release * They're not in vain, for soon will come peace * If you sow in tears you'll reap in joy * So don't be afraid to cry * He sees your tears, He hears your prayer * Your mourning, He'll turn to dancing, * This too will pass, your day is coming' * The tears may flow but don't let go * If you sow in tears you'll reap in joy.  Jesus felt enough compassion for Jerusalem to weep. If you haven’t shed any tears for somebody’s losses but your own, it might mean you are absorbed with yourself. So, let us repent of our hardness and ask God to give us a heart that is tenderly moved to weep and cry the tears of Jesus for each other. The word of God for the people of God. Amen.