Tears in Ministry
Tears in Service
Perhaps one of the most famous is the tears of the prophet Jeremiah.
Those which are recorded in an entire book of the Holy Scriptures called The Lamentations of Jeremiah.
It includes many prayers, all sighing and sorrow, as if to say:
“Remember, O LORD, what has come upon us. Look and behold our disgrace. Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers… We have become orphans without a father. Our mothers like widows.” (Lam. 5:1–3).
And he also says: “The joy of our heart has ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. For this we fainted in our heart; for this our eyes are darkened… Why hast thou forgotten us forever, and forsaken us so long? Restore us unto thee, O LORD, that we may be restored: renew our days as of old. Are there not sins?” (Lam. 5:15–22).
In that book he explains the weeping of the kingdom of Judah and says:
“For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me.” (Lam. 1:16). “Mine eyes fail with tears, my bowels are troubled; my liver is poured on the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
“Mine eye runneth down, and ceaseth not, without interruption, till the LORD look down and behold from heaven.” (Lam. 3:49–50).
Here is uninterrupted weeping, without consolation, until the eye is weary from tears, and a sense that God has departed from or forgotten or rejected the soul!! And prayer… with prayer to Him to return.
2 — Perhaps another example is the weeping of the captives by the rivers of Babylon. The psalmist says about that:
“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song… How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?” (Ps. 137:1–4).
3 — Another example is Nehemiah’s weeping when he heard bad news about Jerusalem.
He said: “And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven.” (Neh. 1:4).
In his prayer he confessed his sin and the sins of all the people, and asked the Lord for mercy, reminding Him of His promises to the fathers.
4 — The same applies to Ezra the priest, when he learned of the sins of the people. He wept and made the people weep with him.
The book says: “And when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.” (Ezra 10:1).
Outside the Lamentations, Jeremiah the prophet says in his book:
“O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jer. 9:1).
5 — Daniel the prophet also wept because of the years of the captivity:
He said: “Then I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession… We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly…” (Dan. 9:3, 5).
“In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.” (Dan. 10:2–3).
Here we see weeping accompanied by prayer, fasting, asceticism, and confession of sins.
6 — Among examples of weeping in ministry is the weeping of the prophet Micah: “Because of the transgression of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel…” (Mic. 1:5). He says in this:
“Therefore I will lament and wail, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a mourning as the dragons, and mourning as the owls… For her wounds are incurable: for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.” (Mic. 1:8–9).
7 — Perhaps at the pinnacle of weeping in ministry is our Lord Jesus Christ’s weeping over Jerusalem:
The Scripture says: “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying… For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee… and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another.” (Luke 19:41–44).
8 — Another example of weeping in ministry is the Apostle Paul’s tears:
He says to the elders of Ephesus: “Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, how I was with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, with many tears, and temptations…”
“Wherefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:18–19, 31). And even in his epistles he says to the Corinthians: “For I wrote unto you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not that ye should be grieved… but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you…” (2 Cor. 2:4).
9 — Likewise Paul’s disciples wept with him.
He writes to his disciple Timothy: “Remembering without ceasing thy tears, I long to see thee…” (2 Tim. 1:3–4).
Causes of weeping in ministry
- A sensitive heart is moved by the condition of the people being served.
- It is moved when remembering their sins: how they have weakened and wounded the heart of God.
- It is affected by the consequences of sin, and what it has brought of troubles and woes… or what it will bring of God’s wrath.
- It may be moved when reproving sins, recalling his own weakness as well, and that he did not desire to reprove, so he laments with tears…
- A person may weep in ministry asking God’s help, or pleading for His mercy and forgiveness. Or he may weep as he lays before God in prayer what the situation has come to of ruin.
- He may weep feeling his weakness and pleading with God to intervene, because matters are not solved without Him.
- Or he may weep from the intensity of troubles, from the pressure of the enemy upon him, or from the gloating and taunting of enemies, as David the prophet said:
“My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” (Ps. 42:3–4).
Two kinds of tears!
There are two women:
One by tears obtains all she asks. The other by crying loses everything!
The first weeps deeply, for real reasons, with human motives; it moves the heart so it becomes compassionate and merciful…
The other’s weeping is sour and causes sourness! It does not move but provokes. And if it continues it leads her to the opposite of what she desires…
[1] An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III on: Tears in Service, Al-Keraza magazine, 9 February 1990.For better translation support, please contact the center.
