SAD. Day 30 of Lent. I’m tearing up.

SAD. Day 30 of Lent. I’m tearing up.

I’m tearing up.

Crying is part of our human emotional package – but what triggers our tears when we are both sad – and happy? Get your tissues ready because weeping makes our noses run.

When a tear is produced from the lacrimal gland it spreads a moist film across your eye. Your tear then has two destinies; firstly it can drain-off down the lacrimal punctum, subsequently draining through your nose which makes your nose run or if weep, the overflow of fluid cascades over your eyelids and down your face. Crying can be scientifically defined as the shedding of tears in response to an emotional state; very different from the non-emotional shedding of tears ‘lacrimation’. So we have more than one type of tear. Basal tears keep the cornea nourished and lubricated, reflex tears wash out irritations or vapors like onions. Psychic, or ‘crying’ tears are produced in response to a strong emotion from stress, pleasure, anger, sadness and suffering to indeed, physical pain. Psychic tears even contain a natural painkiller, called leucine enkephalin which held you feel better after a good cry.

Without getting technical an emotional reaction triggers your nervous system, which in turn, orders your tear-producing system to activate and you cry.

Why did God give us tears? Is it a form of non-verbal communication to elicit help and support from those around you in your time of need. And doesn’t crying somehow solidify relationships with those sharing in an emotional experience? Just think about babies, they use crying as their first form of communication to the world. Haven’t you ever heard a newborn’s cry. The world takes notice of their pitifully soft, ‘Help me!’ Babies actually have three types of crying – the basic ‘hey you, pick me up’, the angrier, ‘do you have any idea how gross this diaper really feels’ and finally the painful ‘they say cutting teeth is the worst human pain imaginable’.

Tears are a responsive representation of what is going on inside us. Even the strongest among us break down and cry at times. It’s part of the human experience. It reveals not only our deep emotional connections with our world – past, present, and future – but allows us to visibly communicate the depth of which we feel about it. Crying is a signal God gave us to communicate we are feeling something deeply. And God always takes note of our tears.

O God. Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle:
are they not in thy book?  When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me. Psalm 56:7-10

No greater suffering has ever been experienced than that of Jesus, a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” Isaiah 53:3

Christ’s life was one continued series of sorrows, from the cradle to the cross. In His infancy His life was in danger from Herod, and his family fled to Egypt. His step father Joseph died and his birth was questioned as people called him names and said hurtful things to the Nazarene. His entire ministry was characterized by compassion for hurting people and the sorrow He felt from the hardness and unbelief of men’s hearts. He was rejected and continually opposed by the religious leaders, and the people were fickle; trying to crown Him king one day only to yell ‘crucify him’ the next. Even His own disciples doubted Him and in the end scattered in fear when He was arrested. The night before His crucifixion, He was “exceedingly sorrowful unto death” as He was tempted by Satan and contemplated the coming wrath and justice of God which would fall upon Him as He suffered and died for us. So great was His agony that His sweat was as great drops of blood. The greatest sorrow of His life was when on the cross He became sin and was separated from His Father to bear the wrath of God for us so that we might be redeemed.

But in the resurrection dawns a victorious Christ who proclaims, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

While life among sinful humanity in this world will never be perfect, we know that God is faithful and that when Christ returns, sorrow will be replaced with rejoicing (Isaiah 35:10). But in the meantime, we use our sorrow to glorify God (1 Peter 1:6-7) and rest in the Lord God Almighty’s grace and peace and the body of Christ’s care.