Prayer Perspective

Jesus wept.  John 11:35  NASB

Wept – “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,” (Luke 19:41).  Why do we need to read both of these verses in order to understand the divine perspective?  Because the translation hides the fact that there are two very different meanings here.  When Yeshua encounters the tomb of Lazarus, the Greek verb is dakruo.  It means, “to shed tears,” as in our expression “cry over spilt milk.”  In other words, while it is about crying, it’s not about agonizing.  It’s crying about something sad but not devastating.  The audience at Lazarus’ funeral misinterpreted Yeshua emotion.  They thought it was about the tragedy of Lazarus’ death, but what Yeshua was really upset about was the naivete of the people who were present.  He knew that death wasn’t the end of the story.  They didn’t.

However, when he wept over the city of Jerusalem, the Greek verb is klaíō, a verb that expresses intense grief, wailing, and remorse.  “This is alien in the Greek world, where what is bewailed is fate rather than one’s own sinful deeds. Behind the distinction stands the different relationship to God, in whom there may be humble trust because he directs human destinies to salvation.”^[1]  klaíō is the expression of divine agony over the lack of understanding of the people of Jerusalem.  They did not see God’s manifestation in the Messiah.  This was far more tragic than the death of a friend.

Once more we need Heschel’s insight: “The self is not the hub, but the spoke of the revolving wheel.  In prayer we shift the center of living from self-consciousness to self-surrender.  God is the center toward which all forces tend.  He is the source, and we are the flowing of His force, the ebb and flow of His tides.  Prayer takes the mind out of the narrowness of self-interest, and enables us to see the world in the mirror of the holy.”[2]  If we experience God’s concerns through prayer, then prayer becomes the way we feel the divine emotions.  Yeshua wept over Jerusalem because he felt the Father’s agony.  He was praying with his tears.

Perhaps that’s the real lesson in the shortest verse in the Bible.  God’s point of view is the envelope of our prayer letters to the Father.  When we surround our concerns with His covering, our feelings are transformed into His feelings—and suddenly we “see” a different world, a reflection of the divine concern, the divine joy, the divine intention.  Then we are praying, not our words, not our emotions, but His.

Topical Index: prayer, emotion, wept, dakruo, klaíō, Luke 19:41, John 11:35

NOTE: This is my father’s 113 birthday (if he were alive today).  I need to remember that.  I miss him.  I hope my children will remember me when I am 113 and absent from their lives.

^[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 436). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.

[2] Abraham Heschel, Between God and Man: An Interpretation of Judaism (Free Press Paperbacks, 1959), p. 198.