Tears Are Grace

"Jesus wept." John 11:35

        Some of the most profound and life-altering truths are presented so simply that they are easily  missed, or passed over in our haste. But if we pause, and breathe, and wait...He comes. The Spirit of Truth. Quietly pointing us to him who is The Truth. So stop. Breathe. Let him whisper to your heart... Jesus wept. He wept. Let it wash over you. Let it sink deep. Let it fill you up. Let His tears flow into yours. Let his heart speak through his tears. His tears. Streams of grace.
        We don't like to cry. It makes us feel exposed and vulnerable. Unsafe. We swallow hard the sharp corners of our hurt and gulp down air trying to stave off the evidence of our pain. We hastily wipe away the tears so they aren't seen; so we aren't seen. So the deepest and most real parts that make us who we are can remain hidden and protected. Yet, they keep coming. Our tears give us away. We do want to be seen. We do want to be known - but not with judgement, with understanding; with the eyes and heart of grace.
        God gave us tears. Tears are grace. Because sometimes life is too much. Sometimes we are full and there is no more room inside for any more of anything. And so, our tears make room. They pour out some of the hurt, relieve some of the pressure, and offer space for Him to enter. And he does, if we invite him in. He comes with tears, because it is not only us who cry. God created us with tears, knowing he would come and grieve the most deeply. He came as The Man of Sorrows, familiar with grief. God wept. He gets it. He gets us. He weeps with us, mingling his tears with ours.  But his tears don't carry the salt of helplessness. His tears come with healing and hope. His eyes meet ours and overflow with grace.
        We weep because the hurt cuts deep and we are overwhelmed. Jesus wept, but he was not overcome. Jesus wept and then he overcame. He turned loss and sorrow on its head, first for Lazarus, Mary and Martha, then for all of us. Jesus wept. Then he conquered death, first with a simple command, "Come forth." Then, with a loud, bone-shattering cry on a cross made not just to cut deep but to sever, "It is finished."
        Our tears still fall, but even in the torrent that comes from living in "the now and the not yet", our tears mingle with the healing tears of Jesus and we find comfort. Jesus wept, and so we have hope. God cried and so we know we are not alone. And now, on the other side of his perfecting obedience, we have been invited to share in His suffering only because he first entered into ours. Jesus, a man of sorrows, wept and because he wept our hurt isn't meaningless, but redeemed.
         One day, our God who wept with us, for us, and because of us will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Until then we have the grace of our tears and his tears falling together...ours falling, making room for his to heal.