Notes

Christ himself did cry on four occasions in his life: (a) He cried over his friend Lazarus (Jn 11:35); (b) he cried at the time of his passion. According to the Apostle, "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death" (Heb 5:7). Also, the prayer and agony in Gethsemane before his betrayal is well at- tested in the Gospels. (c) On another occasion Jesus drew near and saw the city of Jerusalem and "wept over it," mourning the sad fact that she "did not know the time of her visitation" (Lk 19:41, 44). (d) Jesus cried a fourth time when he sat with his disciples at the last supper for the loss of Judas. "He was troubled in spirit, and testified, 'truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me' " (Jn 13:21). According to St. John Chrysostom, this troubling of spirit is to be understood as an expression of his sadness accompanied with tears. So the Lord himself not only shed tears indeed, but he also blessed with his words the capacity to weep. “Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh" (Lk 6:21). When therefore the theologians reason and say that Christ in his human nature is a rational being, they do not add that he is also a laughing being. This has not been revealed in the Scriptures, and we therefore prefer to imitate the example of our Lord and avoid laughing as much as possible as something that may bring eternal mourning. Let us therefore embrace a contrite spirit of weeping that is the cause of blessed and eternal joy and laughter. 16 But again we have said enough about the fourth sense of taste and the mouth.