The Prophetic Power of Tears

“Oh, my anguish, my anguish!  I writhe in pain.  Oh the agony of my heart!  My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent” (Jeremiah 4:19).

“Is there no balm in Gilead?  Is there no physician there?  Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?  Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears!  I would weep day and night for the slain of my people” (Jeremiah 8:22-9:1).

There are a lot of tears in the book of Jeremiah.  So many, in fact, that we could easily call Jeremiah the crying prophet.  Tears are a crucial part of Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry.  His tears convey the deep ache in God’s heart over the brokenness of the world. 

Jeremiah lived in a time of great uncertainty and grave sin.  The people of Israel had strayed so far from God that it seemed they were doomed to die in a foreign land.  Seeing clearly the fragility of the situation, Jeremiah cried.  His tears spoke the powerful message that something is deeply wrong – things are not as they are supposed to be.

While Jeremiah’s tears express his agony and grief over his personal sufferings, they also express the ache of God’s heart.  God takes no pleasure in the suffering of Israel.  The wound of their sin is self inflicted, and God weeps for them as a parent weeps over the loss of a child.  Jeremiah’s tears are also God’s tears.

If we’re honest, you and I aren’t comfortable with tears.  When someone cries, we’re quick to wipe their tears away and say “there, there, don’t cry, it will be alright.”  When we read the book of Jeremiah, we’d prefer to skip past the tears and get on to the more hope-filled passages, where God’s promise of restored life is the focus.

But tears play such an important role in God’s work of salvation.  There is no salvation without tears, for weeping permits newness.  It’s why Jesus wept before raising Lazarus from the grave (John 11:35).  It’s why he wept in the garden of Gethsemane before being crucified and raised (Mark 14:34).  Tears are the prelude of resurrection!

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4).  Those who shed tears of grief are blessed because they are the ones who see clearly that we need the salvation Jesus brings.  In our lives, when we shed tears over the death of a loved one, the suffering of a child, or the loss of a relationship, our tears are our acknowledgement that we need to be saved – we need God’s help.  Our tears open us to the possibility that God has something more for us – that we need new life.

What makes you weep?  How have your tears unveiled your need for God’s grace?  How can God work through your tears to bring you new life?