Compassionate Tears

Compassion is about the moment!  It is about using what I have at hand—money, talent, encouragement, or a shoulder to cry on—to meet another person’s need.

Compassion is about tears from heaven

Science tells us there are three kinds of tears.   (1) Basal tears flow continually into our eyes to lubricate the eyeball and flush away debris, and (2) Reflex tears flow as a response to either pain or contact with an irritant (like when we’re chopping an onion!).  It is the third kind of tears—(3) Emotional tears—that only we humans have.  And that is because only we humans are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27).  Only human beings can look upon the plight of another and shed tears of compassion; only humans can be brought to tears by the tears of another person.

When Jesus arrived at the grave of His friend Lazarus, He wept (John 11:35).  His tears vividly illustrate the meaning of compassion: to suffer (passion) with (com). Jesus’ tears reflected both His own sadness prompted by the loss of His friend and His sharing in the suffering and grief felt by Lazarus’s loved ones.  God Himself was willing to mingle His tears with those of His earthly friends, and we are called to do the same.

It is clear from Scripture that God expects His children to bring the tears of heaven to earth through the exercise of compassion toward others.  The compassion Jesus demonstrated (Matthew 15:32; 20:34; Mark 1:41; 6:34; Luke 7:13) is to be extended through those of us who believe in Him

Cf:  1 Peter 3:8; Ephesians 4:2; Ephesians 4:32; Romans 12:15; Galatians 6:2

David Jeremiah, Signs of Life, p. 219