Heavenly Father's Tears During Crucifixion - Need Help Finding

[sparky1306]

I am looking for a talk or book that I heard or read once that talked about the moment on the cross when Christ exclaimed, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" It mentions Heavenly Father turning away with tears in his big heavenly eyes, or something to that effect. I can't find it on LDS.org or Google. If anyone knows who it was that said it and where I can find it I would be most grateful. Thanks!

[BenRaines]

Never heard that before. Could see it in a story book but not in the scriptures.

Ben Raines

[pam]

I've never read that in the scriptures either. If it was in a story, that is just someone embellishing the story.

[sparky1306]

It is neither in the scriptures nor a story book. It was in a talk or a lecture, but I can't remember who gave it.

[Hemidakota]

Originally Posted by sparky1306

I am looking for a talk or book that I heard or read once that talked about the moment on the cross when Christ exclaimed, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" It mentions Heavenly Father turning away with tears in his big heavenly eyes, or something to that effect. I can't find it on LDS.org or Google. If anyone knows who it was that said it and where I can find it I would be most grateful. Thanks!

Here is something I learned from Andrew Skinner and concur with his assumption of GOD's sorrow.

Sorrow, mourning, and tears have their place in God's plan. We humans are creations who are supposed to weep and mourn. In fact, we are commanded to love and to mourn! These feelings are what make us like our Creator. They are part of godhood. The realization that this is true seems to have greatly surprised the great seer Enoch when he witnessed the God of heaven crying. "And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains? And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?" (Moses 7:28–29).

Enoch learned that God, the greatest of all, weeps and mourns. Apparently, he thought that because of God's infinite goodness, power, and knowledge, he was impervious to sorrow and emotion, or at least demonstrable emotion. It seems that he believed tears and outward displays of sorrow were not part of God's demeanor or his character: "And thou hast taken Zion to thine own bosom, from all thy creations, from all eternity to all eternity; and naught but peace, justice, and truth is the habitation of thy throne; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou canst weep?" (Moses 7:31).

What Enoch learned, and what we learn, is that stoicism is for the ¬birds—¬literally. Lesser creatures may not weep and mourn, but God surely does, and so must we.

I do not think it possible to overemphasize the sorrow Jesus' family and friends must have experienced. At that moment they did not possess the hope that only a knowledge of resurrection can bring. Even for those with a firm belief in the resurrection and the eternal nature of the soul, grief resulting from the death of one so dear can seem overpowering. How much more so is the case if that death is brought about by the brutality of others. As we contemplate what happened to Jesus, the unfairness and violence that engulfed him, and the sorrow that surely overwhelmed his mother and family members, no other circumstance can fully compare.
Perhaps, however, there is something of a parallel in our own ¬latter-¬day ¬history—¬the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith. From the autobiography of Wandle Mace, we learn of reactions in Nauvoo to the death of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. It takes little imagination to apply these same feelings to the family and friends of Jesus as they witnessed their beloved Master's crucifixion:

Who can depict the scene? What pen describe the sorrow and mourning manifested by all? Strong men wept like children; women moaned as they gathered their little children around them and told them of the fearful crime that had taken place at Carthage, where the Governor had promised protection to those two innocent men, they had been left by him to be murdered.

Who could describe the anguish of the families of those Martyrs? Their aged Mother who had already passed through so many trying scenes, she had seen her son dragged before the courts and discharged honorably because they could find no guilt attached to him, near fifty times—now he and her oldest son, two of earth's noblest sons, are shot down in cold blood by a mob, in the prime of life; their wives and innocent babes, left widowed and fatherless to face a relentless foe without the encouragement and assistance of those they dearly loved. ("Journal of Wandle Mace," 149)

[pam]

I don't think the issue is whether or not God weeps...I think the OP was looking for something specific.

[Hemidakota]

Book of Moses and few other books denote God, Lord God, Lord, wept.

[Just_A_Guy]

Didn't Elder Holland state something to that effect in his most recent Conference talk?

Edit: See also this talk by Melvin J. Ballard.

[Dr T]

I know "Jesus wept" but that's about it.