The Tears of Jesus - Father Dave's Blog

“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” (Hebrews 5:7)

Hi Fighter,

This is such an odd way to describe the life of Jesus!

Compare this to the far more conventional description given by the Apostle, Peter: “Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38).

That’s probably what we would have said – something like that.

Each of us sees Jesus in our own way. Even so, if someone were to ask you for a one-line summary of who Jesus was, how would you respond? Would you talk about Jesus’ wisdom, about His compassion, about His unique relationship with God, or would you focus more on the role Jesus plays in God’s plan for cosmic renewal? You might go down any of these paths, but I’m pretty confident that your emphasis would not be on how emotional Jesus was, which seems to be the focus here.

“Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death”.

Of course, we must take these verses in context, yet they are taken from the “Letter to the Hebrews” which is a book we know very little about. We don’t know who wrote the letter, we’re not sure exactly who it was written to, and we’re not even sure it was a genuine letter, in the sense that it may have been more of a public statement of faith, not addressed to any congregation in particular. What we can be pretty sure of though is that it was directed to ‘the Hebrews’ – Jewish converts to Christianity – and indeed, the author’s main intent seems demonstrating how everything that had been hoped for in the religion of Israel finds its fulfillment in Jesus.

“Faith is passion”. These are the words of Soren Kierkegaard, but they describe well the faith of Jesus as depicted by the author of this letter. Jesus experienced intense emotions and, indeed, the God of the Torah is likewise depicted as one who feels deeply. God loves. God is jealous. God gets angry. God grieves. The God of the Hebrews is no great ‘unmoved mover’ who sits quietly in the background while creation gets on with its business. This God gets passionately involved in human affairs, and this is a key aspect of how we connect with God.

I come from a spiritual tradition where the encounter with God takes place in the mind. Evangelicals and Protestant Christians look for God in the Scriptures and emphasise the role of good scholarship in connecting us with God through the Word. The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that loving God with our minds is not enough. We need to love God “with all our our hearts, and souls, and minds, and strength” (Mark 12:30). Yes, we need to think with the mind of Jesus (Philippians 2:5) but we also need to cry the tears of Jesus.

The Gospel narratives recount Jesus crying on two occasions. Jesus weeps at the death of his friend, Lazarus (John 11:35), and He weeps over the disaster He sees coming on Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). The author of the letter to the Hebrews seems to be referring to a third occasion – Jesus weeping in the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke 22:44 says, “Having been in agony, He was praying more earnestly. And His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.” Whether Jesus was literally crying here or not, Jesus is clearly no Stoic.

Do we weep with Jesus? Jesus is weeping for the people of Gaza right now. Do we cry the tears of Jesus when we see what is going on there or do we look away? I’ve started to look away. It’s just too much sometimes. I see a mother appealing for the life of her young child and I don’t know what to do. I look away.

Jesus understands. As the author of the same Letter to the Hebrews says a chapter earlier, Jesus “sympathises with us in our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15). Even so, our challenge is to stay passionately engaged with God and with our world. We must weep with Jesus, and then we must rise with Jesus, and we must act!

Our Sunday Eucharist

We enjoyed another wonderful Sunday Eucharist last weekend. I was out at Binacrombi with our dear sister, Lee Crawley, and we were joined on the panel by Rob Gilland and Rev. John Jegasothy.

I was very conscious that each of these good people were struggling with their own issues. Lee is mourning the death of her husband, John. Rob is caring for his wife, Karen, who is awaiting surgery, and John is dealing with health issues of his own. Even so, all three contributed selflessly to our time of worship. I am deeply grateful.

This week I look forward to having Karyn Hemming and Andrew Logan with me on the panel, along with Father Ola joining us from Sweden via a pre-recorded homily.

I’ll mention here too that this month has five Sundays in it. This means we have a few spare slots that need to be filled. As it is, Andrew Madry isn’t available for the fourth Sunday (March 24) so he will take one of the panel spots for March 31. We need another three participants:

One person for the panel on March 24
One person for the panel on March 31
Someone to give us a pre-recorded reflection for March 31

If you’ve been looking for your opportunity to offer your services, now is the time to step forward. Contact me.

Be sure to join us from midday this coming Sunday at TheSundayEucharist.com, or on Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedInor Streamyard. I look forward very much to sharing this Eucharist with you. 😊

Let me work your corner

Again, a big thank you to all my patrons who give me financial support and keep this work going. If that’s not you, please consider making a one-off donation here, or consider taking out a monthly subscription at Patreon.com and choose either:

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All of the above +
One-on-one mentoring via email, phone, or Skype

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All of the above +
Training with Father Dave’s Old School Boxing Academy

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One weekend per month at Binacrombi Bush Camp.

Every dollar helps keep the wheels turning – the websites, the newsletters, the broadcasts, the boxing club and the bush camp. This is not a one-way process though. Fill out the Physical and Spiritual Fitness Assessment form and get it back to me. Support me at Patreon.com and I will do my best to get you Fighting Fit.

What’s On?

Saturday, March 16^th – Boxing @Legends Gym in Kensington from 2pm
Sunday, March 17^th – Our Eucharist from midday via thesundayeucharist.com (or through Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn or Streamyard).
Tuesday, March 19^th– Boxing at The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 6.30 pm.
Thursday, March 21^st – Boxing at The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 6.30 pm
March 22^th to 24^th – @Binacrombi. Please join me.

It seems that I’ll be at Binacrombi two weekends in a row – March 22 to 24 and March 29 to 31.The second of these is our Easter weekend, so I might even stay on until Monday, April 1^st. Either way, I would be glad for your company. There aren’t many cabins still available for the Easter weekend, so let me know ASAP if you are keen and I will work something out.

I’ve launched another new site this week: www.christianswithdepression.com.

This is actually an old site that I’ve now re-launched. It was put together years ago with submissions from various members of our Fighting Fathers community who have suffered from depression. I am one of the contributors. I recommend it to you. I believe this site still has much to contribute, especially to any who might think of depression as a spiritual failure.

As I say, I’ve launched four new sites in the last month, and I cmmend them to you.

www.fatherelias.org – celebrating the life of Father Elias
www.fatherdave.net – a Fighting Fathers news feed (on Gaza, Assange, etc.)
www.softwareresales.com – an honest way of making an income online
www.christianswithdepression.com – recognising and affirming Christian people who struggle with depression.

I’m keen for your feedback on each of these new sites. If you have ideas as to how any one of them could be improved, I’d be glad to hear about it. Likewise, I’m keen to help you have your voice heard online – to share your wisdom and even develop an income stream. If you’d like me to coach you through that process, let me know.

Speaking of online contributions, my thanks again go to Father Mark Battison for his regular submissions to www.israelandpalestine.org. Check out the updates, subscribe to the RSS feed, and stay up-to-date on what is happening in Gaza. As I say, it’s easy to look away but we need to know the facts if we are going to respond with integrity as well as passion.

Read, Grieve, Weep, Act!