A Twisted Crown of Thorns ®

The Lord Jesus sees our tears, he has compassion on us and says to us: “Do not weep”! Excerpt from Reformation Italy:

Living on a ground full of thorns and thistles because of sin (Genesis 3:17-19), every day many people are living and sowing “weeping” (Psalm 126:6). Every day people shed many tears: the child who is hurt; the teenager in crisis; the young woman distressed; the frustrated adult; the husband who loses his job; the mistreated wife; children with absent parents; the elderly abandoned and alone… Every day there are those who feel like the Psalmist, calling upon God, saying: “My life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing” (Psalm 31:10). Let us pause to think: in the present evil age, in front of the power of death, pain and unbelief that seized humankind, even Jesus – the Son of God – “wept” (John 11:35).

By participating to our humanity, the Son identified himself with our tears. Then, he represented our tears in the presence of God when, in the days of his flesh, with loud cries and tears, offered up prayers and supplications (Hebrews 5: 7). Finally, coming as the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53: 3), Jesus substituted his tears to our own, in the sense that having shed his tears our tears will be wiped away.

Because of Christ we have a strong consolation for we know that as he cried for us God puts our tears in his bottle (Psalm 56:8). And then, in the new heavens and the new earth, God himself, the creator and ruler of the universe, the Lord of the covenant, will wipe away every tear from our eyes (Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 21:4).

Thinking about these things, let us remember the story of the sinful woman of Luke’s gospel that was crying at the feet of Jesus. The Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her: “Do not weep” (Luke 7:13). The Lord Jesus sees our tears, he has compassion on us and says to us: “Do not weep”!