The Posture of a Prophet (1): "Jesus Wept"

People respond to the tragedies of the world with numbness.
Prophets don't.
People walk past the broken.
Prophets don't.
People think only of themselves--from day to day.
Prophets don't.

When Jesus saw the tragedies he spoke: "You are forgiven; go and sin no more" (how often I have longed to hear those words--have you?)

When Jesus saw the broken he loved, he ate, he embraced (how often I have wanted to collapse into the arms of Jesus in my brokeness; to hide from a world that will mistake it for weakness)

When Jesus was given opportunity to think of himself he chose to think only of others: "Please, if it be possible, may this cup pass from me; not my will though Lord, but yours be done" and then he went to the cross (how often I have yearned for a grain of heart like his; to be focused outward)

There was a reason Jesus wept. That what prophets do. They can't help it. They see things as they are; and it makes them sad. They do not only see a drug user--they see the demons that lie behind drug abuse, behind sexual promiscuity, behind twisted humanity.

They see the abuse of people by misused religion. They see through others--to the deepest fears of their heart: that they may be found out--that someone may be looking.

Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet--multiple times, the Gospels record Jesus weeping. There is nothing left to do when one understands the world in all its complexity. When one sees past the lies people are telling themselves.

I wonder how I make Jesus weep?