Tears of God – Good Friday – A Journey from Grain to Grace
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
May the blessing of the Father who calls us, His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ who saves us, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies and transforms us be with us all, that we may hear His word and bear fruit—thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Amen.
Introduction – From Grain to Grace: The Mystery of Union
Yesterday, beloved, Christ walked the journey of the wheat— And we walked with Him.
Each of us began as a single grain:
Scattered… isolated… proud.
But He showed us that wheat must be ground, crushed, and broken—
So that the many might become one loaf, lifted upon the altar and made holy.
We saw that grapes, though sweet, are not wine until they are crushed.
Pressed under suffering, poured out together, and placed on the altar—where they become the Cup of Salvation.
This is the mystery of the Eucharist:
One Body. One Blood. One Christ. One Church.
And today—on Good Friday—this mystery becomes flesh and tears.
Yesterday, we saw the mystery.
Today, we witness the cost.
Yesterday, He said, “Take, eat… this is My Body.”
Today, that Body hangs on the Cross.
Yesterday, He took a towel and washed their feet.
Today, the blood and water flow from His side.
Yesterday, He called us friends.
Today, He bears our betrayal in silence.
But even now—through all the crushing, the scourging, the silence—
He is still gathering us into oneness.
And just as we were united with Him in the bread and wine, we are now united with Him in His tears.
His tears are not just His.
They are our tears.
The tears He shed over Jerusalem…
The tears He wept for Lazarus…
The tears He poured out in Gethsemane…
They are our tears—
your tears… my tears… the tears of the Church.
We weep with Him today. But not without hope.
For His tears water the soil of our hearts.
They soften what is hard.
They cleanse what is hidden.
They unite what has been divided.
And so today, we enter the Cross—not as spectators,
But as members of the broken bread…
As drops in the crushed cup…
As participants in the tears of God.
Let us follow His tears.
Let them be our compass.
Let them cleanse us and carry us…
From grief to grace,
From sorrow to surrender,
From separation to union.
But Did Jesus Weep on the Cross?
Strangely, on Good Friday, while on the Cross, we hear no mention of Him weeping.
There is no indication of tears. Why?
Let us reflect:
When does God weep? Why does He weep? And how can we weep with Him?
Does God Weep?
Yes! In His incarnation, Christ was perfect in His humanity, fully like us.
Some people are troubled by the phrase “God’s tears.”
They say, “How can God cry?”—Isn’t crying a sign of weakness? A sign of limitation?
But listen to the hymn we chant on Good Friday:
“O Monogenēs (O Only-Begotten)” —
“Holy are You, who revealed in weakness what is greater than strength.”
He showed weakness, but He was stronger than all strength.
As St. Paul says:
“Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men,
and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
—1 Corinthians 1:25 (NKJV)
Though the term “weakness of God” is difficult to accept, St. Paul meant that God chose to appear in weakness—to show us love.
He became fully human. And if Christ were truly human, He must have cried.
Anyone who lives their entire life without ever crying is not normal.
If Jesus chose true humanity, He must have shared with us even in weeping.
Otherwise, the Incarnation wouldn’t be real.
So when we say “the tears of God,” we mean Jesus Christ, the Word of God Incarnate, our Lord, God, Savior, Redeemer, and Creator—He cried.
As some said:
Before the Incarnation, humans imagined God as distant, powerful, and untouchable.
But after the Incarnation, they understood Him to be love itself.
There is no love without pain.
There is no love without tears.
There is no true love without participation.
And so, God weeps. And He weeps often.
But His Divinity Does Not Weep
Only through the Incarnation was God able to taste death, feel pain, hunger, nakedness, and tears.
In His humanity, He experienced what we experience.
Let us now revisit the three sacred moments when Jesus wept—
Not to study history, but to join Him in those tears.
These tears are not behind us.
They are alive in us today.
Three Times Jesus Wept – Let His Tears Become Our Compass
“Jesus wept.”
The shortest verse in the Bible (John 11:35), yet one of the deepest truths ever revealed:
God cries.
Today, on this holy and dreadful day—this Friday of the Cross—we gather not only to mourn the crucified Savior, but to understand the tears He shed before He bled.
If we want to walk with Him to Golgotha, we must first walk through the valleys where He wept.
And so, today we ask:
What made Jesus cry? What breaks the heart of the Incarnate Word?
Because His tears are not random. His tears are holy.
His tears are a compass.
1. He Wept Over Jerusalem – When Love Grows Cold
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!
How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!
See! Your house is left to you desolate.”
—Luke 13:34–35, Matthew 23:37–38 (NKJV)
Christ wept not because He was rejected, but because He loved and was resisted.
He longed to gather the children of Jerusalem—to be their covering, their rest, their redemption.
But they were not willing. Their hearts were cold. Their ears were closed.
This is the first tear of Christ: the tear of divine love refused.
In the Holy Week prayer we hear Him Saying:
“I sought to gather your children, but you would not.”
He still weeps today—not just for Jerusalem—but for every heart that keeps Him at a distance.
For every soul that chooses religion without relationship.
For every home that has no prayer.
For every altar where He is offered, but not obeyed.
He weeps over us—when our love grows cold, when we resist His embrace, when we say, “Not now, Lord.”
St. Cyril of Alexandria writes:
“He who weeps over Jerusalem teaches us to mourn for the lost, and for our own lukewarm hearts.
The tear of the Son of God was not weakness—it was judgment wrapped in mercy.”
2. He Wept at the Tomb of Lazarus – When Sorrow Floods the Heart
“Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, ‘See how He loved him!’
And some of them said, ‘Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?’”
—John 11:35–37 (NKJV)
Here we find the most human of His tears.
He does not stand above our pain.
He joins it.
He walks with Mary and Martha.
He doesn’t preach first—He cries first.
This is the second tear of Christ: the tear of shared sorrow.
He does not love from a distance. He stands at the tomb with us. And before He calls Lazarus forth, He lets His heart break.
St. John Chrysostom writes:
“Jesus wept, not for Lazarus alone, but for all who are bound by the cords of death—of sin, of despair, of grief.
He weeps to show us the way out is through love.”
If you are carrying sorrow today, you are not alone.
Let your pain pour into His hands. He knows what it is to stand before a tomb.
He knows what it means to let tears fall.
3. He Wept in Gethsemane – When the Will Wrestles with Obedience
“And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.
Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
—Luke 22:44“Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear.”
—Hebrews 5:7 (NKJV)
This is the deepest tear.
Not the tear for others… not the tear for a city…
But the tear that rises when you surrender your will.
Gethsemane is where the soul trembles before the Cross.
Where the flesh says, “Let this cup pass,”
But the spirit says, “Not My will, but Yours.”
Jesus cried with loud cries and tears—not because He was afraid to die,
But because He felt the full weight of humanity’s sin, and still chose to bear it.
This is the third tear of Christ: the tear of complete surrender.
And this is the tear that transforms the world.
Challenge: What Do You Weep Over?
Do you weep because you didn’t get what you wanted?
Or do you weep because you’ve resisted what He wanted for you?
Do you weep because the world broke your heart?
Or because you’ve broken His?
Let the tears of Christ become your compass.
Follow them—not into despair, but into healing, love, and surrender.
And if your eyes are dry today, ask Him:
“Lord, give me Your tears.
The ones You wept over cold hearts, hurting souls, and stubborn wills.
Let them wash me. Let them guide me. Let them open me to Your love.”
The Ministry of Tears in Scripture – Tears That Heal
If Christ’s tears are a compass, then Scripture is the map.
Throughout the Bible, we encounter holy men and women who cried—and Heaven responded.
Some tears healed. Some cried for justice.
Some tears exposed falsehood. Others opened the gates of redemption.
Today, beloved, we are not here to cry out of habit.
We are here to learn to cry rightly—with the heart of God.
1. The Sinner Woman – Tears of Repentance
“Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon,
‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet,
but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.’”
—Luke 7:44 (NKJV)“Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’”
—Luke 7:48 (NKJV)
She did not bring a sermon. She brought tears.
She did not justify. She wept.
And those tears were more fragrant than myrrh.
Her repentance flowed in silence.
And the Lord who sees in secret declared her sins washed away.
St. Ephrem the Syrian said:
“She did not wipe His feet with a towel, but with her hair—because her repentance came from the soul.”
2. The Widow – Tears of the Oppressed
“Do not the widow’s tears run down the cheek,
and her cry against him that causes them to fall?”
—Sirach 35:18“He will not despise the prayers of the orphans;
nor the widow, when she pours out her complaint.”
—Sirach 35:17
God leans near when the widow weeps.
He answers the cry of the abandoned, the defenseless, the powerless.
The tears of the oppressed are not forgotten—they rise before God like incense.
Challenge: Do I cry for the hurting in the world?
Do my tears fall for others—or only for myself?
3. The Prophet – Tears of the Shepherd
“But if you will not hear it,
My soul will weep in secret for your pride;
My eyes will weep bitterly
And run down with tears,
Because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.”
—Jeremiah 13:17 (NKJV)“Refrain your voice from weeping,
And your eyes from tears;
For your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord,
And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.”
—Jeremiah 31:16 (NKJV)
These are the tears of the shepherd—the parent, priest, teacher, or servant—
Who weeps in secret for the salvation of others.
Fathers and mothers, your silent tears for your children…
Servants who cry for your youth…
They are not wasted.
They are stored in Heaven’s bottle.
4. The Saints in Tribulation – Tears That God Wipes Away
“These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation,
and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
—Revelation 7:14 (NKJV)“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
—Revelation 7:17 (NKJV)
Some tears are not answered here.
Some are wiped only in Heaven.
But not one falls unnoticed.
In the kingdom, God Himself will wipe them away.
The Lamb who cried on earth will comfort those who cried for His name.
5. The Enemy – Tears That Deceive
“An enemy weeps with his eyes,
But if he finds an opportunity, he will not be satisfied with blood.”
—Sirach 12:16
Not all tears are holy.
Some weep to manipulate. Some to escape consequence.
Some to look humble while hearts remain hard.
Let our tears never become performance.
Let them come from a soul that trembles before the Cross.
6. The Forsaken City – Tears That Trusted Man
“She weeps bitterly in the night,
Her tears are on her cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to comfort her.”
—Lamentations 1:2 (NKJV)“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.”
—Jeremiah 17:5 (NKJV)
These are the bitter tears of disappointment—
The soul who trusted in people instead of God.
When we place our identity in others, in approval, in success, in relationships,
Eventually, those things fail us.
And we cry not because God hurt us, but because we forgot Him.
St. Augustine wrote:
“Put not your hope in man. He is dust. Trust the One who formed him.”
Challenge: What Kind of Tears Are Yours?
Are your tears like the sinner woman—cleansing?
Like Jeremiah—interceding?
Like the oppressed—rising for justice?
Or like the forsaken city—realizing too late where your hope was placed?
Beloved, cry—but cry rightly.
Weep—but weep with meaning.
Let your tears soften your heart—not sink it.
And if you do not know how to cry anymore,
ask God for the holy gift of tears—
like the Desert Fathers did before us.
The Gift of Tears – A Second Baptism
If the tears of Christ are our compass,
and the tears of the saints are our guide,
then the gift of tears is the grace that heals and transforms us.
This is no ordinary emotion.
It is a sacred gift—a second baptism, as the Desert Fathers boldly called it.
A grace from the Holy Spirit that leads us from brokenness to beauty, from repentance to renewal.
A Second Baptism for the Fallen
Saint John Climacus wrote:
“Greater than baptism itself is the fountain of tears after baptism…
For baptism washes away the sins committed before,
but sins committed after baptism are washed away by tears.”
What boldness!
But what truth.
Because who among us, beloved, has not stained the robe of our baptism?
Who among us has not returned to the dust we were saved from?
If we were baptized once in water,
we must now be baptized again in tears.
Evagrius: Pray to Be Given Tears
The spiritual master Evagrius Ponticus wrote:
“Before all else, pray to be given tears,
that weeping may soften the savage hardness which is in your soul,
and, having acknowledged your sin unto the Lord (Psalm 31:5),
you may receive from Him the remission of sins.”
(De Oratione 79)
Pray…
Not for eloquence, or miracles, or gifts.
Pray to cry.
Because when tears come, they bring the rain that softens the stone.
And once the stone is broken, the seed can grow.
Tears as the Language of the Spirit
Abba Poemen of the Desert said:
“A heart that is full of tears is a heart full of the Holy Spirit.”
When you cry with a holy heart,
you are not merely expressing pain—you are praying.
You are not retreating—you are returning.
You are not breaking down—you are being rebuilt.
Psalm 42: My Tears Were My Food
In the eleventh hour of Good Friday, we chant:
“My tears have been my food day and night…”
—Psalm 42:3
There is nourishment in these tears.
They are the bread of humility.
They are the cup of conversion.
Saint Isaac the Syrian says:
“Tears that flow from the remembrance of God are more precious than gold and silver.
They are like a river in the desert, making the soul fertile and pure.”
Joyful Sorrow – The Paradox of Weeping
The Desert Fathers often spoke of joyful sorrow—
The kind of holy mourning that doesn’t destroy, but restores.
Saint Symeon the New Theologian explains:
“The tears that begin in repentance will end in light.
They are a river that flows into paradise.”
What begins in the shadow of the Cross
ends in the light of the Resurrection.
Weep Like a Child—That You May Enter the Kingdom
Jesus said:
“Unless you are converted and become as little children,
you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
—Matthew 18:3
Children cry easily.
And the Lord welcomes such crying.
The Desert Fathers taught that tears make the soul young again.
They are the second childhood—the rebirth of a broken heart.
“If God had not given us tears,”
said St. John Climacus,
“few indeed would be those in the state of grace.”
The Healing Touch of the Spirit
Sometimes our memories return.
Not to torment, but to heal.
The Spirit reminds us of past wrongs,
so that we may shed tears—not of guilt,
but of restoration.
Tears lead us to say:
“Lord, I am not defined by my sin,
but I bring You my heart, broken and poured out.”
And He responds not with wrath, but with renewal.
Final Pastoral Call: Let Us Weep With Christ
If we are to cry today, let us cry as Christ cried:
- Over the hardness of hearts.
- Over the brokenness of others.
- Over our resistance to surrender.
Let us cry not from hopelessness,
but from longing—for healing, for purity, for Him.
Let us cry for the neighbor who does not know Christ.
Let us cry for the children who have forgotten prayer.
Let us cry for the pride that keeps us from confession.
Let us cry for the Church, for the world, and for ourselves.
“Lord, give me tears.
Not to look holy, but to become holy.
Not to feel spiritual, but to be made whole.”
Let the tears fall—not as a sign of weakness,
but as a sacrament of surrender.
Let the Church cry again—not out of fear,
but out of love for the Crucified.
Let the altar be watered with weeping.
Let the Body be broken in unity.
Let the Blood be received in trembling joy.
May the Lord bless us, transform our hearts and minds, that our homes may stand on the Rock, our hands serve in the harvest, and our hearts long for Heaven. Amen.