Jesus wept. This powerful, 2-word sentence in the Gospel according to John always delivers a punch. Simple. Personal. Profound. Jesus wept. Period.
Why? Because Jesus was standing in the little village of Bethany at the tomb of his friend, Lazarus, who was buried inside. Grief gripped Jesus. Friends stood near. And from the eyes of God-in-the-flesh came “liquid love” — tears.
Jesus was a man of many sorrows. We find his grief, anguish, and heart-ache in every one of the four New Testament Gospels. Luke 19:41-42 is particularly poignant today:
“But as they came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, Jesus began to cry. ‘I wish that even today you would find the way of peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from you.’”
The questions have come to me both from within myself and from a friend who wrote and asked, “Steve, WWJD? What would Jesus do now in the face of all that is happening across our nation and around the world?”
My very soul says, “He weeps.” Jesus weeps with more than 100K deaths from COVID-19 in the USA alone, and more than a third-of-a-million deaths around the world. Jesus weeps with the devastation to families, the barely-attended funerals, and the broken hearts.
And once again a senseless, violent death occurs in our land. Frustrations and anger boil over. And Jesus weeps again.
This world is broken. Theologians, pastors, priests, and preachers have said this for two millennia. Do we need further evidence? Our world is broken — our systems, our actions, our responses, and our hearts — all are broken.
This is the perfect time for us, all of us, to join Jesus and weep. There are many, many sorrows in our broken world. Let us join Jesus and, for a day and especially today, also be a people of sorrow.
My annual trek through Scripture had me recently reading these words in 2 Chronicles 7:14 once again:
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
I bear His name. I dare to call myself, “Christian.” I am the one who must humble myself and pray and seek the face of God and turn from my wicked ways, then God will hear from heaven, and forgive my sin, and heal my land. As the Hebrew Prophets did say, “This is the Word of the Lord.”
Humility is not natural to the terrain of my human way. Hubris is closer to what is unfortunately natural for me. Yet the only way forward, the only way through, the only way to a new day, goes through the threshold of humility.
I do not know. I do not have “an” answer and certainly not “THE” answer. It is time for me to confess and to listen. Maybe I will even learn a little more than the little I currently know.
I need what my country and our world needs — a miracle. How fitting that today, Monday, June 1st, a National Day of Lament and Mourning, follows Pentecost Sunday. The New Testament book of Acts begins with death and grief and despondency. In response, the people prayed. God heard. The Holy Spirit was poured out. History changed. May it happen again. Amen.
