Larry,
Thanks for reading and your comment. Perhaps Jesus too was homesick–for times with his three good friends, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, or for the his father’s home that he left, and the home to which he knew he’d return after leaving the home he’d known for thirty-three years.
Roger
I have lost three of the important men in my life since the first of the year. Sandy died in January, Bill during the summer, and Bob just last Friday evening. They were important mentors to me, teaching me more through their examples than through their words. They taught me about devotion, faith and compassion. They all lived reasonably long lives, and my own faith teaches me that they are in a better place. Yet I can’t bring them to mind without a deep sadness that is often accompanied by tears. I know that Jesus didn’t weep about the death of a friend as much as he wept about the lack of belief among his friends who were still among the living. Yet I am encouraged by the fact that Jesus’ tears allow and dignify my own expression of sorrow.
I once held up a glass of water in front of a class I was teaching, and I used it as an example of my tendency toward mysticism. I pointed out that water never escapes the universe. It can take many forms: ice, vapor. sweat, tears, rivers, oceans, clouds, aquifers, etc. What if the water in my glass was at one time 2000 years ago the tears that Jesus wept? (I checked this theory out with a friend of mine who was a professor at Cal Tech in solid mechanics, and he confirmed the outlandish possibility. And he was an atheist!) When California was in the midst of a five-year drought a friend of mine put little reminders on door knobs at my church that said “Water is sacred!” I agree.
Bill,
My condolences on the deaths of Sandy, Bill and Bob. Your phrase, “…Jesus’ tears allow and dignify my own expression of sorrow,” opens a new way for me to view my own tears and sadness, thank you. Here’s to all that’s sacred, water most precious.
Roger
Colette,
Thanks for reading and spinning a story for us–you inspire me as I look out my office window with winter approaching: “Frosted windowpane. Cuffing season. Thin ice.”
Cheers for warmth as the cold sets in,
Roger
In Psalm 56:8 King David wrote: “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Truly sorrow is sacred.
Cy,
The version I’m looking at is akin to yours: “You’ve kept track of my every loss and turn, through the sleepless nights. Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.”
Thanks for reading and commenting,
Roger
I didn’t know where this verse was in the Bible which led me to Lazarus, Palm Sunday and then to the painting I have hanging on my bedroom wall of Jesus overlooking Jerusalem. He looks so sad, deeply reflective, full of tears. Your post is very thought provoking. It challenged me to think about Jesus as the man in a new way and what that might have meant for him.
Jo Anne,
You followed the ‘paper trail.’ And, there on your bedroom wall, overlooking the city of Jerusalem with sad eyes yet deeply reflective ones, was ‘the man of sorrows.’ There are moments of levity in the New Testament, but too often [it seems to me] the writers depict the narrative with less joy than I imagine there to have been. For instance: five thousand hungry fold eating bread and fish while sharing jokes and stories, tired fisherman/disciples coming ashore to the breakfast bbque Jesus prepared, sipping good [jovial inducing] wine at the wedding in Canaan, telling fun stories at a somber last supper, watching swine plunge into the lake, and the messianic figure hoped for and sought after, riding through the gates of Jerusalem atop a donkey–and no bystanders thought that to be ironic and worth a belly laugh–really? Thanks for reading and commenting.
Roger
Yesterday a California friend wrote: “Maybe Jesus still cries for the sorrows I experience [and create] in my life. Perhaps he cries when he sees the harm done, those harmful acts we commit against each other and the world of his father’s creation. If what I do makes him cry I want to stop. Bring no harm to anyone or our beautiful shared creation. Your post helps me proceed.”
by 
Six word stories are meant to have a ‘punch,’ perhaps this effort of mine didn’t, but Jesus’ tears did.
Thanks for reading,
Roger
Like Jesus, I find myself weeping most when homesick.
Larry,
Thanks for reading and your comment. Perhaps Jesus too was homesick–for times with his three good friends, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, or for the his father’s home that he left, and the home to which he knew he’d return after leaving the home he’d known for thirty-three years.
Roger
I have lost three of the important men in my life since the first of the year. Sandy died in January, Bill during the summer, and Bob just last Friday evening. They were important mentors to me, teaching me more through their examples than through their words. They taught me about devotion, faith and compassion. They all lived reasonably long lives, and my own faith teaches me that they are in a better place. Yet I can’t bring them to mind without a deep sadness that is often accompanied by tears. I know that Jesus didn’t weep about the death of a friend as much as he wept about the lack of belief among his friends who were still among the living. Yet I am encouraged by the fact that Jesus’ tears allow and dignify my own expression of sorrow.
I once held up a glass of water in front of a class I was teaching, and I used it as an example of my tendency toward mysticism. I pointed out that water never escapes the universe. It can take many forms: ice, vapor. sweat, tears, rivers, oceans, clouds, aquifers, etc. What if the water in my glass was at one time 2000 years ago the tears that Jesus wept? (I checked this theory out with a friend of mine who was a professor at Cal Tech in solid mechanics, and he confirmed the outlandish possibility. And he was an atheist!) When California was in the midst of a five-year drought a friend of mine put little reminders on door knobs at my church that said “Water is sacred!” I agree.
Bill,
My condolences on the deaths of Sandy, Bill and Bob. Your phrase, “…Jesus’ tears allow and dignify my own expression of sorrow,” opens a new way for me to view my own tears and sadness, thank you. Here’s to all that’s sacred, water most precious.
Roger
We live and love, thank god……
Colette,
Thanks for reading and spinning a story for us–you inspire me as I look out my office window with winter approaching: “Frosted windowpane. Cuffing season. Thin ice.”
Cheers for warmth as the cold sets in,
Roger
I weep for today’s tragedies.
Dona,
Me too, and anticipating more to come, tears comfort in the midst of sadness, and offer me solace when confronted by the unbearable.
Roger
In Psalm 56:8 King David wrote: “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Truly sorrow is sacred.
Cy,
The version I’m looking at is akin to yours: “You’ve kept track of my every loss and turn, through the sleepless nights. Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.”
Thanks for reading and commenting,
Roger
I didn’t know where this verse was in the Bible which led me to Lazarus, Palm Sunday and then to the painting I have hanging on my bedroom wall of Jesus overlooking Jerusalem. He looks so sad, deeply reflective, full of tears. Your post is very thought provoking. It challenged me to think about Jesus as the man in a new way and what that might have meant for him.
Jo Anne,
You followed the ‘paper trail.’ And, there on your bedroom wall, overlooking the city of Jerusalem with sad eyes yet deeply reflective ones, was ‘the man of sorrows.’ There are moments of levity in the New Testament, but too often [it seems to me] the writers depict the narrative with less joy than I imagine there to have been. For instance: five thousand hungry fold eating bread and fish while sharing jokes and stories, tired fisherman/disciples coming ashore to the breakfast bbque Jesus prepared, sipping good [jovial inducing] wine at the wedding in Canaan, telling fun stories at a somber last supper, watching swine plunge into the lake, and the messianic figure hoped for and sought after, riding through the gates of Jerusalem atop a donkey–and no bystanders thought that to be ironic and worth a belly laugh–really? Thanks for reading and commenting.
Roger
A high school classmate wrote: “Happy to notice that one of the posts had Laocoon Statue. I love the painting by El Greco.”
I too love this painting, and so I share it with you.
Roger
https://tinyurl.com/y45zrru6
Yesterday a California friend wrote: “Maybe Jesus still cries for the sorrows I experience [and create] in my life. Perhaps he cries when he sees the harm done, those harmful acts we commit against each other and the world of his father’s creation. If what I do makes him cry I want to stop. Bring no harm to anyone or our beautiful shared creation. Your post helps me proceed.”