SO MANY KINDS OF TEARS

When I visited the museum in Jerusalem, in one display there is a collection of tiny cups.” What are they for?” I asked. Our guide explained it to me. These little ceramic cups or goblets were sacramental vessels, cups of tears. People cried into them.

I also learned that the people of ancient Israel kept two kinds of tear- cups, those for tears of joy and those for tears of sorrow. These ancient Israelites weren’t afraid to cry. They considered the act of crying an act of love; evidence that they were alive and cared-cared deeply. The fuller your cup, the more people respected you because you were a great-hearted person. Life had touched you more deeply-the pain of it and the joy of it.

What are tears? The chemist would a say they are a combination of sodium chloride, phosphate of lime, mucus and water. The pastor would say that tears are the bleeding of the broken heart. The police officer would say that tears are a sign of weakness.

The Bible is full of tears.

A FARMERS TEARS are mentioned in Psalm 126:5. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.” In lamentation we are advised to let tears run down like a river.

A SINNERS TEARS are mentioned In Luke 7:38, when a sinful woman kneels at Jesus feet and washes them with her tears.

A KINGS TEARS are mentioned in 2 Kings 20:5 when King Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and wept, and begged God to prolong his life and got a fifteen year extension.

A MIGHTY PREACHERS TEARS are mentioned in Acts 20:19, when The Apostle Paul prayed and wept over the people of God day and night. May God help we who preach today to have tender hearts and moistened eyes.

A FATHERS TEARS are mentioned in Mark 9:24, when a man comes to Jesus concerned about his son. He cries to Jesus, “Lord I do believe, help thou my mine unbelief.” Someone has said that when children are young they step on our toes but when they a grown they step on our hearts. If you’re a parent you know it’s true.


We should not be embarrassed by our tears. Crying is part of being human. It reminds us of the relationship between our body and our mind, sort of a self-verification. Tears also remind us that we can’t always be expected to act in a totally rational manner, because when tears want to come, they come.

Sometimes we cry because we are saddened for what’s happened to us and sometimes we cry out of compassion for others and their pain. There are so many different kinds of tears. Someone’s wife has left them. A mother has died or a spouse has cancer. A lifelong friend has deserted you. Or more likely, you just break down and don’t know exactly why. Maybe something crazy happens and there you go, crying. Usually if I cry, I’m furious with myself about it but deep inside I know it just shows humanity.

You know, it’s not such a bad idea to save our tears in a cup. Those tears would remind us of some of the things we should have done and didn’t with those we love. Tears remind us of what could and should have been. Indeed crying is a healing thing and nothing to be ashamed of. In Psalm 56:8, David request’s that God keep his tears in a bottle.

Tears are sometimes terribly negative, reminding us of our failures and wrong doings. Tears can also be signs of frustration when we simply don’t know what else to do. Life presents us with situations beyond our capability to handle. Our tears remind us that we are so bankrupt that we must turn to God for help and strength.

Our tears are often a message that something needs to be done. When I counsel someone and they start to cry, I have often asked, “Why are you crying?” Are you sadden or frustrated by something? Separation, estrangement, acts done in anger toward someone; all cause tears to well up in us. But our tears are also asking us a question, what can we do to make things better?

Tears can also be harbingers of hope and promise. With tears we can unite with others and show our vulnerability one to another. It’s funny how tears can flow like rain and not only fill our own cups but fill the cups of others. Friend, if you’re going to move through this life and not lose your sanity, you’re going to need that tear cup. Just put it up to your eyes, empty your tears into it and go on and do what you have to do in life.

Our Savior left two things on this earth that were a part of Himself; His tears and His blood. With those two liquids He showed us He was touched by our infirmities and that He had a great desire to cleanse us from sin and iniquity. Jesus wept over Lazarus death when He knew He was going to raise him from the dead. Some people say that Jesus cried because He saw Lazarus on the streets of gold and was conflicted about bringing him back, to someday die again. I don’t know about that but I do know that Jesus wept. I think it’s far more likely that a reading of the text shows the answer to why Jesus wept. In John 11:33-35 we read that at Lazarus’s tomb, Mary and the others were crying. When Jesus saw their tears He responded with His own tears of sympathy. We also know that in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed with strong crying and tears.

When my grandmother died in 1964, I went to her funeral in Lakeland Florida. Immediately after the funeral I left to conduct a revival in Miami. I really didn’t think about her much for several months. Later that year I was preaching in a small town surrounded by mountains in rural Virginia. One day I was sitting on the front porch the old historic hotel where we stayed and for some reason started to think about my grandmother. Out of nowhere a grief net dropped over me and I started weeping uncontrollably. I was glad we were just about the only people staying at that old hotel because if anyone had seen me, they’d have thought I was dying. For maybe an hour I was a total mess. Frankly, my grandmother and I hadn’t had that great a relationship in my childhood years. Because she stayed with my sister and me when my parents would go out of town, I had some left-over childhood authority issues with her. Really, it was nothing all that serious.

In retrospect, I came to the realization that the explanation for my tears on that day was simple. I had never spoken to my grandmother about those childhood days, nor had a sense of closure about them. I was grieving for the lost opportunity to make things right with her before she died. On that day my tears reminded me of what could have been. Through tears we can go back to the past and be bound together with others no longer here and be healed and made whole again. Though I didn’t get to have that talk with my grandmother about our problems as an adult, somehow after that weeping experience I’ve had the assurance that she knew, and knows what was in my heart. What a marvelous thing these tears, for out of them can spring hope and new beginnings.

Finally, we read in Revelation 21:4, that in heaven someday,… God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. Many have wondered what this means. It simply means that there’s a better day coming for all of Gods children. Weeping and sorrow will not last forever. Trials and heartaches will come to an end one of these days. God’s children are going home and when we arrive, God will take out His great handkerchief of grace and all of our tears will be gone.

# He’ll wipe away tears of death. We’ve all been hurt by death, but no more. Death has been abolished where we’re going. Never again will we follow and hearse to a grave yard. Never again will deaths cold icy grip touch us and our loved ones.

# He’ll wipe away tears of Despair. Families and individuals lie in shambles because of the touch and taint of sin, but a day will come when Jesus Himself will wipe all those tears away.

# He’ll wipe away tears of distance. Sometimes the devil will whisper in our ears, “He’s not coming. Yes He exists, but He’s not concerned with this world or you and your pain.” But I want to remind you that the devil is a liar. One day Jesus will bridge the distance between us and Himself and will come to take us home. I remind you that we serve an honest and steadfast God who will do what He says He’ll do.

Friend, you and I will have burdens and tears as long as we walk in this world. Mankind seems to be born to tears. But heaven is in her last day operation and Jesus is even now making a last minute check of the banquet tables which hold the marriage supper of the Lamb. Heavens clock trembles toward the midnight hour and the day is close when Christ will leap from the battlements of the sky to claim His bride. Then God will wipe all our tears away forever.

AND AFTER HE DOES, THEY WILL NEVER RETURN AGAIN.

John Stallings