Today’s Reading is John 11:1-44. The shortest verse in many English language Bibles is about Jesus mourning the death of his friend Lazarus: “Jesus wept.”
Wikipedia knows significance has been attributed to this phrase for a number of reasons, including the following:
* Weeping demonstrates that Christ was indeed true man, with real bodily functions (such as tears, sweat, blood, eating and drinking—note, for comparison, the emphasis laid on Jesus’ eating during the post-resurrection appearances). His emotions and reactions were real; Christ was not an illusion or spirit (see Docetism). Pope Leo I referred to this passage when he discussed the two natures of Jesus: “In his humanity Jesus wept for Lazarus; in his divinity he raised him from the dead.”
* The sorrow felt by Jesus presages the suffering of his own crucifixion.
Also the Dominus Flevit Church in Jerusalem was fashioned in the shape of a teardrop to symbolize the tears of Christ:
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