Focus on God’s Goodness-Tears of Jesus

JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Focus on God’s Goodness is found in Hebrews 5:7.

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”

Jesus is described as a man of sorrows, not because he was gloomy and sad all the time, but because He had emotion. His heart empathized with the grieving. At the graveside of Lazarus, Jesus wept.

His heart grieved at the tragedy of unbelief. Looking over Jerusalem, Jesus wept, because many did not recognize the peace that He came to offer.

And Jesus was in great anguish when He prayed on the night before His crucifixion. Jesus was not aloof from our suffering and pain. Rather, He stepped right into it when He came to the world. Isaiah 53:3 says, “He was a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.” The tears of Jesus express His tender love and compassion for us.

The tears of Jesus reveal the goodness of God and are reasons to give thanks in the Year of Gratitude.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com