Chapter # 6 Paragraph # 5 Study # 4
October 21, 2007
Lincolnton, NC

• I. The Focus on "Weeping".
  • A. Throughout the New Testament records, "weeping" signals very significant loss. The losses are sometimes physical, sometimes relational, and sometimes spiritual, but there are no cases of weeping where the losses are relatively minor. Jesus is recorded as weeping on two occasions; once at the sight of Jerusalem in her rebellion, and once at the grave of Lazarus. However, the words used to describe these two events are not the same and the contexts do not lend themselves to similar considerations. Jesus' "weeping" at the grave of Lazarus is not at all the same as His "weeping" over Jerusalem.
  • B. The focus upon weeping is this context retains the contrast motif that Jesus used in the beatitudes. He says those who "weep" now shall "laugh" later, but the word used for "laugh" is very seldom used in the New Testament. Normally the opposite of "weeping" is "rejoicing", but for this particular context, "laughing" suits. Interestingly Jesus is never recorded as "laughing". In fact, the emotional issues are not significantly highlighted in the records about Jesus. He shows up as angry on several occasions, and He "rejoiced" a time or two also, but His emotional life does not get much attention from the writers. Hebrews 5:7 says that the Son offered up prayers with "strong crying and tears", but the word for "crying" simply indicates an elevated voice, not a physiological "crying". If it were not for that text's "tears", we would not even think of Jesus "weeping". It is true that the New Testament does not record all, and that Jesus may well have laughed a lot and, even, wept more than we are told. But it does seem significant that the emotional life of Jesus is, more or less, unrecorded. It may well be that a person of fullness of faith is not notable for the expression of strong emotion. Emotion, after all, is a reaction to not only what is occuring but also to an interpretation of the significance of that event. For one such as Jesus, Who understood the will of God to a very large degree, there would not be a significant degree of emotion most of the time because emotion is generally created by a soul which cannot "see" well. Surely at Lazarus' grave, the tears that slipped down Jesus' cheeks were not at all caused by Lazarus' death, but were most likely an example of One Who "weeps with those who weep".
  • C. The "blessedness" of "weeping" because "laughing" is in the future is, in some ways, a tacit acknowledgement that human beings never will "see" well and will always have some greater capacity for emotional outbursts than the Omniscient God. But, it also holds out the promise that the causes of weeping will be set aside at some point. It all boils down to one thing: the present is full of "losses" and the future will be filled with fulfillments of the soul's best longings.
  • D. Luke's references to "weeping" that led to "blessing" are illustrated by the records in 7:36-50 (the woman who wept as she worshipped Jesus by washing His feet with tears of great sorrow over her sins) and 22:62 (Peter's crushing humiliation for denying Jesus). Interestingly, both of these occasions of tears are tears caused, not by some personal loss of possession or self-interest, but by the recognition of great personal failure to "be good".