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Marked Devotional 30

by David Joynt on April 04, 2022


ROMANS 12:15 | 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Jesus’ tears before the city of Jerusalem eliminate the picture of God as being “apatheia” as many Greek philosophers believed, the unmoved mover of creation, unsullied by the imperfection of changing emotions. Jesus’ tears also take away from us the Stoic option: if we are to imitate Him, we cannot simply steel ourselves to face the world’s troubles and our neighbor’s pain with heroic calm, accepting of their inevitability.

Think of the supreme commitment of Jesus to other’s welfare. The moment when He weeps over Jerusalem follows His triumphal entry, what most observers would see as the highlight of His ministry and zenith of His popularity. Yet He is focused on the future pain of the very people who will soon mistreat and reject Him.

How good are you at empathy and emotional identification?

Tags: emotion, empathy

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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