Theogene Rudasingwa

Grace That Weeps Theogene Rudasingwa

As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city. he wept over it ( Luke 16:41). Why would Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, weep for a First Century city under domination by the powerful Roman Empire? Wasn't He the omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent Creator of heaven and earth? Among fellow humans, it is understandable and altruistic to show compassion and weep when people are hungry, thirsty, sick, or dying. Jesus Christ had wept, and then resurrected, His friend Lazarus who had died. He had shown compassion to crowds by feeding them. He had touched and healed lepers. He had mixed with tax collectors and prostitutes. He had restored sight to the blind man. He had saved an adulterous woman from the hypocritical religious folks. He had struck a deep conversation with a marginalized woman at the well. He had healed a hemorrhaging woman. He had established a team of disciples to continue his work, and handed them the message, the Gospel. He knew who He was, whose He was, where He was headed, and how and when His mission would be accomplished. Were his tears for Jerusalem out of joyful anticipation of how the whole salvation story would end, or the overflow of sorrowful grief mixed with ultimate love when His Human-Divine existence pondered what it would take to save a sinful humanity? He knew that all humanity neither merited His Saving Grace, nor could we possibly earn it through our works.