Psalm 126
Has anyone here cried recently? This morning? During the last week? Last month? Last year? And what does the crying look like? A little wetness around the eyes? Tears rolling down your cheeks? Sobs so deep you cannot catch your breath? Is crying healthy? Does crying make you feel embarrassed? Is crying a sign of weakness? Is crying only about sadness? It can also be about joy. It can be about confusion. It can sometimes seem like the tears come for no reason at all. Is crying different for boys and girls, men and women? We spend a lot of time holding our feelings in, because we want to demonstrate control. But crying, I think, is when our feelings are close to the surface, and they spill out, in times of joy and times of sadness. Tears? It’s the way we’re made.
My granddaughter Ellieana knows nothing about all of these complicated questions I’ve been asking. She cries when she’s hungry. She cries when she wakes up alone. She cries when her diaper needs changing. She cries when things aren’t just right, and once she starts crying I think she doesn’t even remember why she started. She just keeps crying until food, or a hug, or a new diaper distracts her from her crying.
Not just babies, but all people cry. Psalm 126 acknowledges this. It even acknowledges that an entire nation could be crying. A nation, Israel, had been overrun by enemies, and has been crying. Justice and peace are long gone. Prosperity and plenty are long gone. Can you imagine that, an entire nation crying? Have you ever felt like our entire country has been crying, our entire community, our entire church family?
There are several times in the Bible when we are told that Jesus cried, too. We read in Luke’s Gospel, in the hours before the beginning of Palm Sunday, that Jesus looked out over the city of Jerusalem and he cried. You might think he was crying about having to face the cross, but listen to his words: “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” Jesus cried because we are too blind, too stubborn, too scared to embrace God’s peace, and again and again we resort to violence, agree to tolerate violence, and even profit from violence. And Jesus cried. And we cry with him, with tears in our eyes, not only for the violence of the world, but our need for a next meal, a good hug, maybe even a fresh diaper!
When I was a seminary student serving at Trinity Presbyterian Church on West 57th Street in New York City, our pastor invited a Presbyterian minister from Nigeria to preach. I’ve never forgotten the story he told, and how he told it. It was from the story of the Exodus in the Old Testament, the time when the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt toiling in the hot sun, living in total misery under Pharoah, and suffering under the whip. This preacher read the turning point in that story, when God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, and Israel was about to be rescued: “I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt; I have heard their crying; I know their suffering. And now I have come down to deliver them.” [Exodus 3:7-8] God sees their misery, God hears their cries, God knows their suffering, and now God has come down to rescue them. And this preacher thundered his conclusion: we worship a God who comes down to rescue us. Our God does not hide in heaven. God sees, hears, and knows our circumstances, and God responds. We worship God who comes down … to where you are right now.
And so the tears in your eyes are not a sign of weakness, or loss of control, or evidence of instability or unhealthiness. Every tear that rolls down your cheek is God’s opportunity to respond. God knows about every tear. And God is eager to respond!
But Psalm 126 is not just about crying. Crying is the starting point that leads to hope. “Lord, make us prosperous again, just as the rain brings water back to dry riverbeds. Let those who wept as they planted their crops gather the harvest with joy. Those who wept as they went out carrying the seed will come back singing for joy as they bring in the harvest.
Though your eyes may be filled with tears, the Psalm still invites you to plant seeds of hope, to invest yourself in hope, to seek and find your hope in God. This is how Jesus dealt with his tears as he looked out over Jerusalem. He cried because the people living there had lost, forgotten, or never had the things that make for peace. But then he went down into that city to plant “the things that make for peace” so that everyone can see them. He went down into that city to plant “the things that make for peace” so that you can see them. He cried, thinking about the violence of this world. He cried, thinking about the violence of the Cross. He cried, thinking about you. But he was not stuck in his tears. Like God came down to rescue the slaves in Egypt, Jesus came down into the city to create the things that make for peace, Jesus came down to face the cross, for you, for me, for Wilma, and even Ellieana.
Once of the final passages in the Bible is from the Book of Revelation, a final word of hope to a world that is often in tears: “God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” [Revelation 21:4] Including yours.
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