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Gospel Lesson for the
Week
March 9, 2008
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Fifth Sunday in Lent
Please read
Read also read
Jesus began to weep.
---
John
11:35
"This illness does not lead to death;
rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified
through it."
--- John 11:4
.
The Tears of Jesus
.
Jesus still weeps.
as once he wept at the
death of Lazarus,
sharing the grief of
family and friends.
As once he wept over the
city he loved,
He weeps today when he
beholds
a child abused or
abandoned,
a woman exploited,
a homeless person
whose only possession
is a shopping cart
laden with bits and pieces
of a shattered life.
He weeps at war’s
destruction.
He weeps at genocide
in the Balkans and
Africa.
He weeps at the myopia and
astigmatism
of racial prejudice.
He weeps at cancer and
AIDS
and all the other ills of
humankind.
He weeps at injustice,
whatever shape it takes.
Jesus still weeps
When Jesus wept
they were not phony tears,
superficial and spurious.
-- crocodile tears.
For when he wept,
the salt of his tears
mingled with the salt of
his sweat.
The tears of Jesus
were not his only way
of dealing with grief.
He cried and then he went
to work
The pain and suffering of
this world
do not exist simply
to evoke our sorrow,
but rather to be the arena
for God’s action
After the tears in
Bethany,
came life, new life,
and the joy of reunion,
as God and humankind,
focused in the Man from
Nazareth,
triumphed over the
undertow
of pain and death.
And since we claim his
name,
it’s up to us
to bring that salty mix
of tears and sweat
to bear upon the ills
that made, that make our
Savior cry.
---rvc
*** D I S C L A I M E R ***
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