Here are two images of Jesus in tears. This is something I’ve been thinking about for a couple of reasons lately.
One, I recently finished a novel called, Silence. It’s by Shusaku Endo of Japan, and is an interesting read. It’s about missionaries and their experience with persecution in Japan. The question, will they give up the faith? Would Jesus want them to renounce the faith to save themselves? Or others? Why is Jesus silent in such times. It’s a powerful and though provoking book. Here’s a quote.
“Yet the face [of Jesus] was different from that on which the priest had gazed so often in Portugal, in Rome, in Goa and in Macau. It was not Christ whose face was filled with majesty and glory; neither was it a face made beautiful by endurance to pain; nor was it a face with strength of a will that has repelled temptation. The face of the man who then lay at his feet [in the fumie] was sunken and utterly exhausted…The sorrow it had gazed up at him [Rodrigues] as the eyes spoke appealingly: “Trample! Trample! It is to be trampled on by you that I am here”
So I was thinking as I read- what makes Jesus weep? It calls to mind the character of Jesus as one who is tired, who suffers, etc.
And what does that look like. Above, the image on the bottom is that of Jesus weeping over Jerusaelm. We know he also wept at Lazarus’ tomb. What does it take to make Jesus weep? And the question then becomes- does he weep yet today?
That’s the top image. Him crying as he also hold a woman who is in tears.
It started making me think about this image of Jesus. How do we appropriately think about Jesus and tears. How do we hold this together with the other elements of Jesus? When do we need this image?
