The sting of rejection follows us everywhere we go. It may die down after a month or two, it may feel more like a memory in a year, but nonetheless it remains somewhere inside. It is something we all experience and something that most of us wouldn’t wish on anyone else.
Think of your hurt, where it resides in you. Boyfriends and girlfriends who decided there was someone better suited for them than you. Husbands and Wives who loved you better without the commitment. Friends who determined your distance was too inconvenient to keep in touch. Mothers and Fathers who left because having a family was just too much.
Every one of us have our own separate hurts and pains. Struggle and failure. We’re human. We mess up, make bad choices, impulsive decisions that we grow to regret. Many of us live our lives working out a series of mistakes, just figuring it all out as we go. We’ve all got this common ground, yet we remain so divided. Over differing opinions, politics, the need to be right and prove our innocence.
Why, when we’ve got this common ground, do we fuss and fight so often? Where an emptiness could be filled with compassion, we just rip at it more and more. Where our hurt could be combatted with grace and love, it is pushed down and swallowed, until it spills out in angry words and actions.
I imagine that in the midst of our arguments, hateful disagreements, bans and walls, that Jesus weeps. For wasted potential, for his people who he has declared deserve so much. He must weep because all that he suffered for is constantly being disregarded and misinterpreted.
When Lazarus died, although Jesus knew he would rise again, He wept. (John 11:35) The sister of Lazarus met Jesus and fell at his feet in sorrow. (John 11:32) “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and greatly troubled.” (John 11:33) And when Jesus wept, the Jews shouted “see how He loved him!” (John 11:36) Jesus cried because He embodies love. Flesh and blood, a human man who walked amongst His people, feels what we feel. He weeps with those who weep.
In this, we see what the grace of God looks like. Jesus did not leave us to weep on our own, instead he wipes our tears, which he has also cried. We have no suffering that he has not already borne. He did not leave us to face our troubles alone with unwillingness to walk before us. If we want to be an extent of His grace, we must learn how to weep again.
How then, could we reject brothers and sisters, yet claim Christ? I am no Bible expert, but I know who Jesus says He is. Giver of life. A lover of all people. Father to all people. Hope for all people.
All people.
Every. Single. One.
That stands for you. For me. For refugees. For every race. Culture. Age. Background.
It doesn’t matter that we may disagree with someone’s choices or lifestyle, because we are not the savior. Jesus’ promise translates into his love for every human being on this Earth. Doesn’t that mean something?
This truth has found its way into my sheltered heart and made itself a home. It has invaded my being and it fuels my mind and body in everything I do and believe. I grew up hearing many different opinions, generalizations, assumptions and lies. I thought that all I needed to know could be found in the ideas of the people I knew, until I met Jesus and understood what his sacrifice meant. And He reminds me over and over again just how much He loves us. In the birth of our children, reconciliation within families, healing of the sick, redemption for the lost. He is leading us to be people of faith and love.
So when you are feeling the weight of defeat, when you are hurting for others, I encourage you, be not afraid to weep. For it is in this, that we grow more like the Father. It does not signify weakness or disbelief, as much as it shows strength and faith to take on another’s hurt as if it were our own. When we weep, we learn to love like Jesus and fall deeper into the purpose He has intended for us.
