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Mountainview Family, 

 

Our world is broken… Over the past 10 days, I’ve felt the weight of this — more than ever. A father and mother are grieving the loss of their young adult son. I sat with Pablo last weekend in Mexico as he told me a sad story of a woman who had to sell her children to older men just to survive. Then this mass shooting, where 19 children, all 9 and 10 year olds, died… Sometimes I don’t say anything at all because I feel so sad, so mad, so frustrated, and so helpless. 

 

Certainly our thoughts and prayers are important, but it just doesn’t seem to be enough. How, we wonder, can any good come from such terrible things? I’ve had moments where I wanted to say something deep, inspiring, meaningful, profound, but I found no words. 

 

What has brought me some comfort this week has been the simple observation of John, one of Jesus’ closest followers: 

 

Jesus wept. 

John 11:35

 

When there are no words that can ease the grief and despair, weeping with and for those whose lives have been torn apart is the only thing to do… 

 

So why did Jesus, the friend of Martha and Mary, weep? To fully grasp why, it would be good to read all of the 11th chapter of John. As I best understand, this is why Jesus wept.

 

He wept because His friends wept. It’s comforting to know that even the Son of God felt the intense weight of their loss. 

 

He wept because the people around Him lacked faith. 

 

Thank you, John, for including these two words. 

 

I find great comfort in knowing that Jesus wept, even when He knew everything He knew. He knew that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, but He still wept. 

 

When painful things happen, we’d like to come up with a way to “fix” it. But there is no fixing. There is grief. There is deep pain. There is doubt. But there is no fixing. The challenge for us is to continue to be faithful, to press on, and not give up when there is pain, sorrow, brokenness and tragedy around us. We know, in time, God will make all wrongs right and we can still weep.

 

Let me remind you of Paul’s words to the Christians in Rome:

 

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Romans 12:15 ESV

 

When tragedy strikes, our tendency is to take a harder, less compassionate approach. We want to explain, defend, assign blame… Instead, we should all pause — and rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. It might be in these few moments that we find a renewed faith, peace, and joy. 

 

Today…we must keep doing whatever little thing we can do to make the world a better place. One simple act of kindness and compassion every day can change the world. Let’s commit again and again to making this world as much like heaven as we possibly can.

 

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Tom