NOT A Good One!

“I had a good cry.”

A “Good cry”? An oxymoron.

What does it mean?

It’s “tears of joy,” which happen when our heart can’t contain all the joy and it spills out through our eyes. Or, it refers to a sad cry that cleanses our spirit, taking all that was building up and washing it away. Crying helped us somehow.

Here we are between Palm Sunday and Easter.

For us Christians, the Holy Week: holiest of the year. It is the week leading up to Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins. His birth is vital to this week, which is why we celebrate Christmas, God sending us salvation. But if this week didn’t happen, Christmas would be inconsequential. This week proved Him our Messiah, Savior; removing our separation from God, providing a way for sinful man to approach a Holy Perfect God for once and for all! Jesus took our place, the one we sinful humans deserve and substituted Himself to pay our debt. He gifted us eternal life by giving His life.

He was God coming to earth to save His children who were hopeless, helpless, lost and separated from The One who loved them most!

As He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, it was Passover. Jerusalem was packed with Jews coming to celebrate what God did in Egypt centuries earlier … freeing them from over 400 years of slavery. The Jewish religion is full of memorial celebrations, remembering what God did for them, marking each year by celebrating it again. At these times, Jewish people traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate. If you’ve witnessed a Jewish wedding, you know, they know how to celebrate! It is a “whole hearted” effort. Inspiring!

So, Jesus enters a bustling, overflowing city with celebratory throngs. People everywhere. It’s possible to be unnoticed! But, He isn’t!

For a reminder, read Luke 19, Matthew 21, Mark 11, or John 12 and following.

In Luke 19:41, we read:
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he WEPT over it.

Jesus WEPT over Jerusalem!

This was NOT a “good cry”!

The word “wept” here is not even “cry”. It’s a heaving of the bosom, sobbing, the cry of the soul in agony, a gut response. There is no stronger word for weeping than this one!

It is the grief lament of a parent whose child has died; a broken heart, the worst possible physical reaction to life’s worst circumstance. Jesus was distraught, flattened. He wept with His whole body!

He saw the lostness of His children, His people knowing He held the solution to all their future pain and eternal separation, yet, also knew, they wouldn’t receive the gift He came to deliver. His earthly nation would reject Him; remaining lost, dismissing their prophesied Messiah. He was giving all He could with little response. Losing most of His children forever.

He couldn’t hold it in!

The tidal wave of grief overcame Him and His body responded like ours would. Like some of ours has over losing a child. Multiplied by millions and billions. His physical response was passionate, unstoppable, uncontainable sobbing. The kind where you can’t breathe, or stop, or help yourself. It controls you!

It wasn’t a “good cry”!

It was a horrible cry … the worst ever … an intensely loving one!

His love compelled Him. It overtook Him!

It manifested in a physical reaction; heaving, lament, expressive grief.

For these moments, he let Himself grieve what would not be. What 3 years of trying would not accomplish. His prayers, compassion and love weren’t enough to bring all of His children home. He did as the Father asked and they wouldn’t accept Him as Messiah.

These were monumental, eternal tears!

Every bit of them profess His LOVE!

Love is not easy, nor pain free. Even the sinless and perfect Jesus had to grapple with the agony of loving us! He dropped to His knees and wailed and wailed. Every fiber of His being consumed and responding to the breaking grief His heart felt. Broken, battered, ship wrecked emotionally over the pain of loss.

Think about His weeping this week. Let His tears flood you and sink deep.

He was broken for us in every way!!!

Oh, how He loves!!!

Soaked in Tears,