December 18, 2024 Texts: Luke 19:41-44; John 11:30-36
Dear Friends in Christ,
What makes you cry? A person’s death? A sad movie or TV show? Watching something good happen to your children? A compliment that humbles you? Pain? When I was a child there wasn’t much that made me cry. What usually triggered it was losing. The Lord made me such a competitive person that I could not handle losing. It hurt. It was as if a part of me died.
I still do not like to lose, but it does not make weep. I’ve told you I didn’t cry when my mom died. But I have cried a lot since then. I am a more emotional person. Probably will be until the day I die. How about you, what gets your tears flowing?
Tonight, we finish our Advent sermon series on “Advent Answers to Hard Questions Hardly Anybody Is Asking.” The first week we focused on Jesus the baby; last week, Jesus the child; today, the very adult Jesus, the Man’s Man, and we ask . . .
“WHY WOULD JESUS EVER CRY?”
We sometimes can portray Jesus as this gentle, sweet man who liked to hold children in his lap. That is true, but it does not take away from His masculinity. Jesus had courage. Jesus wasn’t afraid to confront evil. He called the Pharisees a “brood of vipers.”
We all know the sayings, “Big boys don’t cry.” “Keep a stiff upper lip.” “Hang tough.” We know that Jesus cried. Probably more than the two references in Scripture. As he made his way into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday he wept. (Luke 19:41) He wept because the people had failed time and time again to heed the call to repentance and had continued in their woefully sinful ways.
Why did He cry? Because His heart was filled with sadness – like seeing someone you love go astray. Do you think He still cries when He sees people who call Him Lord, behave in a way that flies in the face of His teachings?
Jesus also wept when his good friend Lazarus died (John 11:35). It did not happen when He first heard the news, because He knew He had the power to raise him up, even after four days. Rather, what triggered the tears was when He saw His dear friend Mary of Bethany weeping in sorrow over the loss of her brother. His heart was filled with compassion and care. Seeing someone else cry, can also trigger our tears. Our compassion mechanism kicks in, and the crying begins.
Jesus – the Man’ Man. Nowhere in Scripture is His strength and courage more dramatic than when He was nailed to the cross. Beaten and battered and physically and verbally abused, He never once relinquished His single-minded resolve to fulfill His mission of redemption for the world. This would be the final and full payment for our sins.
In addition to these two instances, I wonder if Jesus didn’t cry when He looked down at his mother from the cross? Simeon had been right; a sword would pierce Mary’ heart (Luke 2:35), and it was happening now. Despite the pain and the imminent death, He was making sure His widowed mother would be cared for by his friend John.
It is hard to define a Man’s Man, but here are a few attributes. They love their wife and children. They are compassionate and care about people. They call evil for what it is when they see it in the world. They are selfless and willing to sacrifice their life for another. They are not afraid to cry.
This Advent, like every Advent, is about when heaven met earth. This time and season tells the miraculous story of God becoming flesh and blood through a baby named Jesus. This child’s obedience was to the will of His heavenly Father. This Son of God is our Savior and Lord. Whatever else may be going on in our lives, this story is paramount. Nothing else will matter when there appears the Lord in the final Advent.
It’s enough to make a person cry.
Amen.