When Jesus Wept

/ Cheryl McGrath

jesus-wept

When Jesus wept at Bethany

What sorrow did His heart conceive?

Was it unbelief in all its masks

That caused His overflowing grief?

That human eyes that day conveyed

While human tongues unknown betrayed?

 

When Jesus wept at Bethany

Did He weep for you and me?

 

When Jesus wept at Bethany

What aching filled His gentle soul?

Knowing well our history

Did He glimpse the unrelenting toll

Of pain and grief and misery

That death has cost humanity?

 

When Jesus wept at Bethany

Did He weep for you and me?

 

When Jesus wept at Bethany

Did creation gasp with soft surprise

And angels gaze with puzzled eyes?

Did earth and Heaven hold their breath

While tears rolled down the face of Him

The Resurrection and the Life?

 

When Jesus wept at Bethany

Did He weep for you and me?

 

When Jesus wept at Bethany

Did His tears fall down to stain the land?

To mingle with the sinless blood

That Calvary would soon demand?

Did blood and sweat from Gethsemane

Join their flow into the flood?

 

When Jesus wept at Bethany

Did He weep for you and me?

 

When Jesus wept at Bethany

Perchance He stood by all of us

And mixed His tears with yours and mine

And claimed our suffering as His own

That none of us who weep and ache

Could ever say we wept alone

 

When Jesus wept at Bethany

He wept for you, He wept for me

 

When Jesus wept at Bethany

His weeping crossed eternity

And entered every human tear

That was or is or soon will be

That in our loss and in our pain

We should know the cost is paid

 

And sorrow’s depth was plumbed by He

Who wept with us at Bethany

 

© Cheryl McGrath, Bread for the Bride, 2014   Copyright Notice: Permission is granted to freely reproduce any Bread for the Bride articles in emails or internet blogs, unaltered, and providing this copyright notice is included.     To permanently display an article on any static website please contact me for permission.

 

9 thoughts on “When Jesus Wept”

  2. The biblical text indicates that Jesus’ tears were tears of identification and empathy but also that they were tears of anger at the thought that here the enemy, death, had claimed another victim. I think you encapsulated that thought so beautifully, Cheryl, among your other inspiring questions and signposts.

    Like

    Reply

    • Thanks Erroll. The Biblical text can tell us a certain amount, but can we really guess at the full scope of the reason for that simple statement “Jesus wept”? It is as profound as it is simple. I wanted to touch the mystery of a God who identifies so completely with the suffering of His human creation, more than we can understand in this life I think.
      CM

      Like

      Reply

Let's Talk!