The Tears That Lead to Life

This is my Montgomery Advertiser column for January - late posting.

I watch the news with its pictures of the destruction from the earthquake in Haiti with a very sad and heavy heart. The images of children without parents, bodies trapped in the rubble, and families, in shock, trying to decide just where to begin piecing life back together bring tears to my eyes. I watch. I pray. I donate some money online. All of these small, simple actions seem inadequate with such devastation.

“Jesus wept.” (John 11:35). This is the shortest verse in the Holy Bible. These words come at the beginning of the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. It’s a story infused with new life, not just for Lazarus, but for his entire family. Often in our haste to get to the wonder of Lazarus’ resurrection we skip right over the simple words about crying. Who really wants to talk about weeping when we can concentrate on the glory? Obviously the good news is in the new life that Lazarus has after the miracle…right? That new life is an essential part of the story. But today it is important to me that Jesus wept.

Jesus wept over the death of his friend Lazarus. He wept and weeps for the sin that separates us from God; those things we do that bring about literal and figurative death in our lives and the world. He wept and weeps with and for people because God cares. There are times when we wonder if anyone really cares about death and destruction in the world. There are moments of despair when we question whether anybody cares about our lives. The tears of Jesus remind us that God does.

The crying of Jesus is important. If everything we understand about Jesus and Scripture is glory and life, what happens when we are walking in the midst of destruction and death? What are we to do when the chances and changes of life leave us without healing or hope? Where are we, when we walk in what at times seems unconquerable darkness?

God’s grace and love always meet us where we are. God encounters us in the dark valleys and suffers with us. When we find ourselves in the throes of grief, depression, sadness, despair and loss, God is there. He remains with us and helps lead us out.

A child languishes in a pool of bad decisions, and you can’t seem to help him. A mother suffers through the final stages of cancer, and you feel hopeless. A marriage is more struggle than joy, and you can’t seem to do anything to stop the downward spiral. The fact that Jesus wept lets us know that God is with us in the middle of our suffering, confusion and what seems dead. He waits with us. He has already been in our darkness and claimed it as his. It reminds us that God will ultimately free us and give us new life.

There are times when our tears move us to action. There are also situations in life that are beyond our fixing. There is brokenness that we can’t repair no matter how much time, money or talent we have. All we can do is weep with those who are weeping, and it is enough. Weeping becomes a prayer that is heard by the one who has the kingdom, the power and the glory.

The tears of Jesus lead to life.

There is a story about a boy at Vacation Bible School who made a ceramic tray for his mother. He worked all week on his project, trying to make it just right. The last day of VBS, he couldn’t wait to show it to her. He ran down the hall and he tripped. The tray broke into many pieces, and he sat down and cried. A number of people stopped and tried to comfort him. “It’s just a tray,” they said, thinking this would put things into perspective, and he would snap out of it. But the child was inconsolable. Eventually, his mother came to where he was sitting. She knelt down and took him into her arms. She cried with him. “Let’s pick up all of the pieces, and we can take them home and put it together and see what we can make out of it.”

The tears of Jesus move him to save. When our lives are shattered, Jesus is with us in the middle of the mess and helps us pick up the pieces. He gives us strength and aid in making something out of what is left.

Jesus wept. Thank you, Lord, for that—and thank you, Lord, for the life born of those tears.