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Jesus Wept

Tears aren’t necessarily a sign of a lack of faith, they are also a sign of empathy and care for a suffering world.

If Jesus could weep, then so can we.

When Mary reached theplace where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

John 11:32-37

Sometimes, Christians feel obliged to put a brave face on, whatever the circumstances. God is on the throne and everything will work out fine. We just have to trust God and be confident that our life is in his hands and that nothing can happen to us that he doesn’t allow.

All of that is true, but…

Everything will work out fine in the end, but we aren’t at the end yet and there are no promises that life won’t be tough in the meantime. We will face pain; our own pain and the pain of our friends and family as life gets tough. As Christians, we aren’t called to wear a permanent fixed grin in the face of adversity. Jesus wept when he saw the impact of Lazarus’ death on those around him – and he knew that in a few minutes, Lazarus would walk out of his grave. If Jesus could weep, then so can we.

Life is pretty difficult for all of us at the moment and some are facing unimaginable pressures at the places of work and, in all likelihood, it’s going to get substantially worse before it gets better. Whatever better looks like. Some, perhaps many, of us will lose friends and family members to this pandemic, we are not immune to the world’s pain. It’s ok to have a little weep or even a howling sob. Tears aren’t necessarily a sign of a lack of faith, they are also a sign of empathy and care for a suffering world.

weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:5

We don’t know when the morning will come but come it will.