Tears

Thanks to my father, Fred, for inspiration for this week's Bible study blog entry at i.ucc.org

Tears are part of everyone’s life. In our reading from John 11 this week, tears are part of Jesus’ life.

There are many tears in the Bible

• Hagar cried as she thought she and her son, Ishmael, were going to die in the wilderness (Gen 21:16-17)
• God saw King Hezekiah’s tears and healed him (2 Kings 20:5)
• Job, as his friends scorned him, “poured out tears to God.” (Job 16:20)
• King David wrote about his tears in the Psalms (6 and 42, at least)
• Jeremiah’s tears were for the Israelites. (Jeremiah 9:1)
• Paul cried for the churches he wrote to. (2 Corinthians 2:4)
• Another Psalmist showed how tears are so common to the human condition – “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.” (Psalm 130:1)
• There are more sad expressions in Psalm 22, 88, 51 and 143
• And in one of the shortest verses of the Bible – Jesus was overcome with sorrow at the death of his friend, Lazarus. “Jesus began to weep.” (John 11:35)

We are not alone.
God knows our tears.