Some years ago friends of a scientist showed me the microscopic image of a human tear he had given them. In it there were shapes similar to The Cross. Recent research has shown that tears can be divided into three kinds; basel, which are always present and ensure the eyeball is moist; reflex tears which occur when a foreign body enters the eye, and emotional tears which flow when we are sad, angry or upset. Again tears produced as a result of sorrow and sadness show within them Cross like compositions [see below].
It is safe to assume then that as Jesus wept over the future destruction of Jerusalem [Luke 19:4] and the untold tragedy of his people – that his tears contained The Cross. How many other times did he weep similar tears? And – does he still weep?
I was reminded powerfully of Jesus tears this week as I listened to the following story told by Revd Dr Sam Wells of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
“A woman walked in to a church heavy hearted and full of anger and grief at the sin and suffering of the world. There was a candle stand and she was just striking a match to add a prayer of her own to those that were burning with fragile hope. She heard a shuffling at the back of the church. She walked gently towards it and the pierced hands and scarred face of the stooped person told her she was looking at Christ himself. Christ answered her mystified stare – “Who can bear to see my tears, I can’t show them to the world, the world only wants me for what I can give it. Who can bear to see what love and life cost me.” And she left that church and she looked again at the horror of so many tragedies and resolved to become through the honesty, dismay and faith of lament a person who could bear the tears of Christ.”
Tear produced by sadness as seen under a microscope.
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