On what occasions, mentioned in the Holy Bible, did the Lord Christ shed tears?

Through His incarnation, the Word of God shared in everything about us — except for sin alone. In becoming a child, He blessed children and called them to Himself, urging us to imitate them saying, “For of such is the Kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:14). He fasted to sanctify our fasts; and He prayed, while being Himself the one who receives prayers along with His Father, to sanctify our prayers. He suffered, was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead, so that we could sing with the apostle, “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). He ascended to the heavens so that we can truly say, “He raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places” (Eph. 2:6). And now, concerning weeping and tears, He wept in order to sanctify the

512 Coptic Reader app translation.

513 See Monastery of St. Macarius. Paradise of the Fathers: A Dictionary of the Lives of the Saints, ‘A’ (Arabic) and The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection , trans., Benedicta Ward (Liturgical Press, 1984): pp. 9–19.

tears that we shed as He did. The Holy Bible mentions two occasions on which the Lord Christ wept, which are:

First, He wept over Jerusalem, which opposed divine truth. Our teacher Luke the Evangelist says, “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 your 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’” (Luke 19:41–44).

His tears expressed His desire for the repentance of the people of Jerusalem, even those who worked in the temple. He invites every believer — whether lay or clergy — to pray with tears for all those who reject divine truth and are indifferent to salvation. Thus, the believer prays and weeps in his private room and even on his deathbed, with a spirit of love and not of judgment, for all the fallen of the world. If Sirach teaches us not to be slothful — even in our old age or in sickness — the Lord Christ taught us through His tears to offer love and prayer for all humanity, while we ask for the prayers of others — even those who have departed from the world — because in our weakness we feel the need for others to support us.

And the second occasion on which He wept was when He went to meet the sisters of the dead Lazarus, who had been four days in the tomb, and to raise him from death while his body was still shrouded in graveclothes. He could not bear the sight of the two sisters weeping, so He too wept (John 11:35), revealing the extent of His love for humanity. He shares our emotions. He is wondrous in His love for all the human race in that He cannot bear our tears, but says, “Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me” (Song 6:5).

St. Augustine says that the raising of Lazarus from the dead should not so much be a cause wonder, as a cause to rejoice: “Our duty is to rejoice rather than to wonder.”⁵¹⁴ It should not surprise us that He who by His power creates every person and brings them into the world should be able to raise the dead. It should, however, fill us with joy, for He bestows upon us resurrection, and grants us salvation.

The Greek verb translated as “wept” in John 11:35 (δακρύω, dakruō : to shed tears) differs from the verb that was used to refer to the weeping of Mary and the multitudes around her in John 11:33 (κλαίω, klaiō : to sob, wail aloud). His weeping was not a loud lament as was theirs, but merely the shedding of tears from His eyes. It was a reserved outward expression of His deep emotions and His way of sharing the pain of those who were in pain, before all

514 St. Augustine of Hippo, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John Tractate 49.1 (NPNF I/7:270).

the people who did not yet know how to face death. In these tears, the crowd recognized a living witness of His love for Lazarus (John 11:36).

St. John Chrysostom⁵¹⁵ believes that everything the Lord Christ did was according to His divine wisdom for the edification of the multitudes by the performance of the miracle. On the one hand, He did not speak to Mary in front of the multitudes what He had spoken to Martha when she met Him alone, about the raising of Lazarus. Had the multitudes — many of whom bore ill will towards Him — heard those words, they might have left Him and returned to Jerusalem, and thus not witnessed the raising of Lazarus. On the other hand, He affirmed His human nature in that moment, so that the multitudes might not be driven away by Him speaking about His divinity. So, He wept in silence and He was troubled and groaned, and asked about the place of the tomb. All of this raised questions in the minds of the Jews, and a curious desire to know just what He would do.

St. Augustine says, “The Lord Himself wept for Lazarus, whom He was going to bring back from death; (John 11:19–35) wherein doubtless He by His example permitted, though He did not by any precept enjoin, the shedding of tears over the graves even of those regarding whom we believe that they shall rise again to the true life.”⁵¹⁶

St. Jerome says, “The Savior Himself — to show that He possessed true human feeling — mourned for him whom He was about to raise from the dead.”⁵¹⁷

St. Ambrose urges us to entreat Christ to weep over us, saying, “Would that You would vouchsafe to come to this sepulchre of mine, O Lord Jesus, that You would wash me with Your tears, since in my hardened eyes I possess not such tears as to be able to wash away my offence. If You shall weep for me [as for Lazarus] I shall be saved … You will call me out of the tomb of this body and will say: ‘Come forth,’ that my meditations may not be kept pent up in the narrow limits of this body, but may go forth to Christ, and move in the light, that I may think no more on works of darkness but on works of light … Call forth, then, Your servant. Although bound with the chain of my sins I have my feet fastened and my hands tied; being now buried in dead thoughts and works, yet at Your call I shall go forth free, and shall be found one of those sitting at Your feast, and Your house shall be filled with precious ointment. If You have vouchsafed to redeem any one, You will preserve him. For it shall be said, ‘See, he was not brought up in the bosom of the Church, nor trained from childhood, but hurried from the judgment-seat, brought away from the vanities of this world, growing accustomed to the singing of the choir instead of the shout of the crier, but he continues in the priesthood not by his own strength, but by the grace of Christ, and sits among the guests at the heavenly table.’ Preserve, O Lord, Your work, guard the gift which You have given even to him who shrank from it. For I knew that I was not worthy to be called a bishop, because I had devoted myself to this world, but by Your grace I am what I am. And I am

515 See St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on John 63:1 (NPNF I/14:230–231).

516 St. Augustine of Hippo, Letters 263.3 (NPNF I/1:592).

517 St. Jerome, Letters 60.7 (NPNF II/6:126).

indeed the least of all bishops, and the lowest in merit; yet since I too have undertaken some labour for Your holy Church, watch over this fruit, and let not him whom when lost You did call to the priesthood, to be lost when a priest. And first grant that I may know how with inmost affection to mourn with those who sin; for this is a very great virtue.”⁵¹⁸