Crying, Tears - A Gift From God
20th Sunday after Pentecost
Galatians 1:11-19; Luke 7:11-16
In the Third Antiphon of the liturgy, we sing: "Blessed are those who weep, for they will be comforted". Those words, like the entire text of Sunday's Third Antiphon, are taken from the Gospel, from the commandments of Christ, pronounced in the so-called Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5; Luke 6).
In the Gospel story that is read on the 20th Sunday after the Trinity, we learn that when Jesus, accompanied by His disciples and generally many people, was approaching the city of Nain, another large crowd - a funeral procession - came out to meet Him.
The crowd was large because they were burying a youth, a young man. We recognize this in our time, too: when such an unexpected death of a young person occurs, many people gather and attend the funeral. It is quite natural.
It was also natural that the mother of the deceased young man followed the coffin and wept heavily. For a mother, no matter how many children she has, it is always very difficult to bury a child, but in this case, the mother had an only son, and was a widow. Thus, the grief of that mother was extremely heavy - likely no one could console her.
And when the mother sobbed inconsolably, her grief was transferred to other people. Many people cried, as it also happens at similar funerals in our time. But the very act of weeping provides respite for the human soul. Crying is also a gift from God, in that our soul can find relief from sorrow and difficult experiences. People have sorrows in life, of course, not only because of the death of loved ones, but for various reasons: dismissal from work, sometimes due to the closing of an enterprise, due to serious illnesses of their own or loved ones, because of family problems and quarrels, because of derision and humiliation, and for many other reasons.
And when we in times of great troubles do not forget that we are never alone in the world, when through prayer we find a way to feel our connection with God the Creator, then even in the tears of grief we will find comfort and regain our mental equilibrium, our soul’s balance.
This should be especially emphasized, for in our age, many people in times of grief and difficult experiences forget about that gift of God, that in crying and tears, when we put our hope in God, God gives us the opportunity to regain our mental balance, the balance of our souls. So, let us try not to insist on pills, on chemicals, because God the Creator gifted us with everything necessary in the time of our creation.
Truly fortunate are “those who weep" as they think about God and their lives, because the Lord will console them and give them peace. They say that women cry more, more often - perhaps that's why they live longer (obviously, that may be just one of the factors ).
There is a saying among the English: "Big boys don't cry." Adherence to that ethical precept earns people ulcers and other internal diseases, including, as researchers say, diabetes. Modern psychiatrists testify that when someone has a serious illness, mental pain, and that person refrains from crying, even though a person's eyes may not cry, the internal organs "cry" (cramp or convulse); our nervous system is ailing, and the brain may become ill.
Just as there are safety valves in a steam engine, so God the Creator gave man the ability to cry. Therefore, one should not be ashamed of tears, just as one should not be ashamed of God's gifts in general. The Lord Jesus Christ wept when he learned that Lazarus had died (John 11:35), but He knew and taught that a believing person passes from death to life (John 5:24). Moreover, He knew that He could resurrect and revive Lazarus, and He did so, yet Jesus still wept for Lazarus because He knew and loved him closely.
So crying is the most natural thing for a person. An unrepentant sinner, as our proverb says, will not cry. But we must also remember the instruction of the Apostle Paul, that believing followers of Christ should not grieve for the dead "like others who have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
While grieving, mourning our losses, our grief, we must not lose our faith. We should always have hope that the Lord is able to help us in our sorrows, our misfortunes, in the most difficult circumstances, and heal our spiritual wounds.
Christ consoled the widow of Nain, returning her son. Christ, during his bodily stay on earth, and in this present time, does not resurrect all the dead, but by resurrecting the son of the widow of Nain, He testified by deed, by actions, the truth previously expressed by Him: "For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will". (John 5:21).
And with the resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain, and later with the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11th chapter) - Christ testified that He is indeed "the resurrection and the life" (Jn. 11, 25).
The Lord also promised us in that instance, as in another, that whoever believes in Him and in the Heavenly Father, who sent him, “has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life" ( Jn 5, 24). May the Lord be with us always, in all sorrow and grief, as well as in all our joys.
Amen.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.