Why Did Jesus Cry

WHY DID JESUS CRY

JOHN 11 vs.35 & Luke 19 vs. 41

? One of the themes running through the entire Gospel of Luke is the compassion Jesus Christ had for people (all kinds of people). Jews, Greek, Gentiles, name them.

• Different ethnic groups, Government workers, tax collectors, sinners, and outcasts of society.

? It didn’t seem to matter who you were or where you had come from, if you were always second best, you were a candidate to receive Christ’s compassion.

• This is why Jesus says, I came for the lost.

? It was only Jesus who had a tender heart toward others.

? We all know that when you and I look deeply into the eyes of another human being, we can see much about that person. Sometimes, when we look into another’s eyes, we see “a gleam”.

• It is in the eyes that you see joy, or sadness.

• Other times, when we look into another’s eyes we see “a deep sadness” that comes from seeing your fair share of troubled days.

• Sometimes tears of joy.

• Sometimes tears of sadness.

? Today I want us to look on the subject: “What Made Jesus Cry?”

? There are two instances recorded in the Scripture where Jesus cried.

• And not just a little. But actually burst into tears and wept.

• One of those instances occurred while Jesus stood at the gravesite of a friend (Lazarus) (John 11 vs. 28-35)

• The second recorded instance was of Jesus crying over Jerusalem (Luke 19 vs.41-44).

? I want us to look at what it was that made Jesus break down into tears.

• Maybe you’ve never heard that Jesus Christ cried.

o Crying may be something that you are not used to.

o Other’s cry at church to look holy

o Other’s cry because they are sorry for their sins

o Yet the smart (youth) would say, I’m not the crying type you know

o You may associate crying with weakness.

o But I want you to know that there never has been a man like Jesus Christ.

? He was a man’s man. And yet, we read in Luke 19:41-44 these words: “Now, as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it.”

? Just BURST INTO TEARS and cried with such vulnerability that it must have worried the disciples that were with him.

? I’m sure the men and women around him weren’t sure what to do.

? I’m sure they wondered what was wrong, what was making their master cry?

? Luke 19 vs. 41-44

• “Now, as he drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

? The First Reason why JESUS cried was, WHEN HIS PEOPLE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY THEY REJECTED IT. “Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If only you had known…” – V.41a

? We know from Luke 19:28-36 that Jesus was riding on a colt into the city of Jerusalem.

• His disciples were walking along side of him as he made his way toward the city of Jerusalem.

• Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem because that’s where the cross was.

• And going to the cross to die for the sins of humanity was the reason for his life.

• Yet the people he was about to die for, were actually rejecting him.

• He had come that we may have life, but we were actually rejecting him

? I then look at our lives today

• Jesus weeps over us

• I wonder how he feels when he looks at his hands

o The scars in his hands

o The scars on his feet

o All scars of healing

o All scars of an abundant life

o All scars of living a good life

• Some of us do not have that life

o Because we do not believe

o Jesus weeps at you today

o Because of un belief

o Today you hear the word of God

o Tomorrow you are looking for other solutions somewhere

o When God says you are rich, he means it

o But you, you do not believe

o And so Jesus is pained

o He weeps

? The bible says: “Now as He drew near, He saw the city…”