Illness. Sudden loss. Unexpected change. Loneliness. Uncertainty. Death. At some point we all need a shoulder to cry on because of these.
Finding that shoulder is the easy part, actually. When we need to cry, there is usually a shoulder nearby. Our spouse. A parent. A good friend. What is the hard part then? Finding someone who can make the tears stop. There is really only one who qualifies. That someone is Jesus! He gives us a shoulder to cry on, but he does much more. He has the power to dry our tears and give us hope.
We learn this from Jesus’ ministry, on the day when He entered a town called Nain. As he approached the town a dead person was being carried out, the only son of a widow. She was crying. Though a crowd was around her—among them friends—no one in that crowd had power to stop her tears. Then Jesus went to her and said, “Don’t cry.”
When we were young, our moms and dads often told us, “Don’t cry.” Maybe it was over a scraped knee. But their loving words didn’t make the pain in our knee go away. This widow was suffering from a bigger wound. And Jesus too said, “Don’t cry.” But when it is Jesus saying, “Don’t cry,” that makes all the difference!
You see, Jesus came into the world to know pain and death. Jesus would soon know the worst pain ever suffered: the pain of his cross, where he would suffer hell for the sins of all. Then he would endure death. His body would be laid in a tomb. Truth is, this is the death we all deserve because of our sins—even the dead son of the widow deserved it. But Jesus wouldn’t remain in the tomb. He would rise again to life! Death never had any power over him. So when Jesus went to the widow’s son to comfort her, he went to her with power over death. After comforting the woman with the words, “Don’t cry,” he then spoke words of life to her son. “Young man, I say to you, get up!” And he did! Jesus had given him the gift of life!
While we can’t expect every pain to be healed so dramatically, there is always HOPE in Jesus! His cross tells us that all of our many sins are forgiven! The empty tomb tells us there is eternal life for every sinner who believes in him! This is the one and only “tear-drying” hope! Thank you, Jesus!
“When the town was with her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”
Luke 7:13