Sermon Tone Analysis

Communion

The old covenant of law said “Do this and you shall live”

The songs we have singing declare a new covenant built on Grace and Grace says I have done it for you.

The new covenant is entirely an undertaking of God - founded in love, freely given and available to each of us.

As us this meal open to all, who love the Lord, who are seeking more of Him.

Have wandered away and wish to return.

It is a table that you can come to because God says you may, not because you are strong, or Good or have earned this meal.

You can come to this table because he loved you and gave himself for you and you need his mercy and his grace.

Come and meet the risen Christ, who paid the ultimate cost to seal Gods promise with you.

As we take communion together let us take time to remember Gods commitment, his covenant to us to restore us, who would not be served well by the old covenant, those of us that are not perfect, those of us that fail or are tempted, those of us that recognise that our efforts are not good enough and never can be.

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The shortest verse in the English bible.

Who can tell me what the shortest verse in the english bible is ?

John 11:35 (CSB)

35 Jesus wept.

“Everyone knows that the shortest verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).

But is it?

In Greek, John 11:35 is ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς [Edakrysen a Iisoús} : three words instead of two (and sixteen characters).

There is a two-word verse that is shorter in Greek: 1 Thess.

5:16, Πάντοτε χαίρετε [Pantote chairete], “Rejoice always,” is only fourteen characters.

The next verse, 1 Thess.

5:17, is also two words but it contains twenty-two characters: ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε [proseucesthe adialeiptos (“Pray unceasingly”).

Both of these two-word verses contain imperatives.”

Fortunately for me we speak English not least because, as I have already demonstrated my greek is atrocious, but also because I want to look at this concept of Jesus weeping.

The bible records Jesus crying on three occasions, though I expect from the inference that these verse bring it was a more common event than that..

Empathy/sorrow

The first time is when he travels to the house of Mary and Martha John 11:38-45

When Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus who had been buried for four days many commentaries will speak about the fact Jesus was so touched by the sorrow sorrow of Martha and Mary that He raised Lazarus from the dead.

And Jesus was clearly empathic to the sorrow felt by Lazarus sisters but it is also clear from the text that jesus was also sorrowful because of the loss of - See how he loved him.

Jesus knew the outcome would be ok and yet he still wept.

How this relates to the loss of a loved one in Christ.

Because we have a faith, because we know the outcome we are still allowed to be sad to, weep, to mourn.

Like jesus we should be moved by the plight of others.

Not a cryer - that’s fine.

We are neither supposed to manufacture emotion or deny out emotions.

What we do need to guard aginst though are two things.

los hombres no lloran (yoran) - men do not cry - see my spanish is as bad as my koine greek.

Strong people do not cry - Expand

2 becoming so hardened that we no longer feel for others.

- EXPAND

John 11 teaches us that Jesus - man of men, cried when moved through sorrow and through empathy with the plight of others.

As we look at the world we need to look through Jesus’ eyes

but we also need to see the dark places, the hidden things and we need to see and react as Jesus would do.

Compassion

The next time we hear of jesus weeping is in luke 19

The event take place after the events of Palm Sunday which I am pretty certain we will look at next week.

Only Luke recorded this lament by Jesus.

In contrast to the great joy of the crowd, the man on the donkey began to cry at the sight of the city.

He wept then because He knew that the people did not understand about the Kingdom of God, and men, women and children were going to continue to suffer.

The name of the city has “peace” as part of its meaning (Hebrews 7:2), but the people of the city did not know what would bring them peace.

The “city of peace” was blind to the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

If the people had known what was truly happening and had recognised it for what it was, they could have found peace.

But the Jewish leaders had rejected their Messiah (19:39, 47); they had refused God’s offer of salvation in Jesus Christ when they were visited by God himself.

Now the truth would be hidden, and soon their nation would suffer.

Jesus knew that, ultimately, on Maundy Thursday the people would turn him over to the Roman government to be crucified and the Path of the Jews of Jerusalem was set for disaster.

Jesus prophesies in Luke 21:21-24

About forty years after Jesus said these words, they came true.

In A.D. 66, the Jews revolted against Roman control.

Three years later Titus, son of the Emperor Vespasian, was sent to crush the rebellion.

Six hundred thousand Jews were killed during Titus’s onslaught.

This would occur as judgment because though some of the people believed (such as the disciples and other faithful followers), most had rejected the opportunity God offered them.

But God did not turn away from the Jewish people who obeyed him.

He continues to offer salvation to both Jews and Gentiles.

Jesus wept for the city of of Compassion.

Jesus knew what was to happen both in the physical - the destruction of Jerusalem, and in the spiritual - the rejection of the messiah, Gods son.

We are called to view those around us with compassion.

We need to see the physical and the spiritual realities of what is within the world.

Passion

The last time He wept was when He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal.

He praying that He would be strong enough to undertake the challenge He had in front of Him .

We don’t read of him crying in the Gospels though it is clear that his prayer was fervent and exhausting.

we need to go to the book of Hebrews where that night in the garden is recounted.

Hebrews 5:7 (CSB)

7 During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

Jesus did not pussyfoot around with his prayers.

Jesus prayed with passions.

Conclusion

We hear of Jesus crying three times and there is a common theme through these three instances when Jesus wept – His love of the people

Jesus weeps in sorrow because of the suffering of the people - physical and spiritual, sorrow that they did not understand about the Kingdom of God.

Jesus weeps in compassion for all people to be saved.

1 TIM.

2:4

They did not understand that the eternal life one finds through the resurrection of Jesus is the peace of the Kingdom of God.

The people of Israel rejected Him.

The same is true today, we reject Him when we don’t follow His teachings.

Yet, Jesus wept for us

for you and me,

each one of us.

In spite of our rejection of Him, Jesus still cares for all of us.

He has compassion

The events of Holy Week tell us that we are still saved by his crucifixion and resurrection.

That He had promised us

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5) this is based on God’s compassion for an imperfect people made perfect in Christ.

Finaly Jesus weeps in passion.

Echoed in

I suspect that in this position of intercession Jesus has wept for many of us as he has advocated on our behalves with passion.

So as we move through towards Holy week a week of celebration, betrayal, death and resurrection, let us remember this assurance from God:

and the ending of the verse in romans

It is our of this confidence we should have empathy with those in distress,

Jesus was not afraid to shed a tear or two and maybe we need to be brought to tears by the world around us.

When we see the world as God sees it we should express compassion and bring aid and prayer with passion.

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