What does it mean to weep with those who weep?

Well, hey everyone. What does it mean when Romans 12:15 says that we are to weep with those who weep? If you didn’t know Romans 12:15, that’s weep with those who weep is the second part of a verse, rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. But I want to focus on this idea of weeping with those who weep.

What does it mean? What does it not mean? This last Sunday we heard another faith story and from one of our congregation and somebody sharing about how God had walked with them through difficult seasons of their life and the importance of having access to other believers around us who walk with us through those moments.

We took a look at the story of Job and the things that Job’s friends did right as well as some of the things that Job’s friends didn’t do very well and opportunities that they missed and how important it is for us as believers in Jesus to say that people matter, not just with our words, but with our actions.

So what does it mean to weep with those who weep? I’ve been thinking personally about that verse as we are at the time of this recording about a week after some flooding had been taking place in certain parts of the United States and the south and hearts are breaking every time you read stories of the people who are personally affected by those kinds of things, the loss of life, the uncertainty around it, the lack of clarity around could anything have been done to prevent this and just the grief

that people walk through in those moments. What does it mean to weep with those who weep? I have a couple caveats I just want to throw out there as to what as I’ve considered what weep with those who weep doesn’t mean. I think that weep with those who weep doesn’t necessarily mean that you are in automatic agreement about everything with the person with whom you’re weeping.

There can still be empathy that is communicated and Christ-like compassion and love, even if you’re with a person that you may not necessarily be overly warm towards or have a close relationship with. We are still called to weep with those who weep. We also know that this doesn’t necessarily mean weeping with people who are weeping for unbiblical reasons.

And the reason why I say that is because we understand that implicitly with rejoice with those who rejoice, the first part of Romans 12:15, we would understand, well, surely that doesn’t mean that we’re to rejoice with somebody who’s rejoicing over something that the Bible would look down on, something that is contrary to God’s nature.

And so, I think we can understand even with that caveat, it’s not spelled out in Romans 12:15, that we’re talking about weeping with people who are weeping for legitimate biblical reasons for weeping. But I would just want to pull out some observations about this gift of empathy that we can offer to somebody as I’ve processed it and perhaps you can process it along with me.

One is just this call to weep with those who weep. Why in the world would we need to be commanded to feel something that should normally just, you either have it or you don’t. Why would we be commanded to feel something and to weep with those who weep? Normally crying and weeping, if that’s all that this is about, is something that happens naturally.

You don’t summon it up. Well, in this particular case, I think one of the reasons why the Roman church with Apostle Paul is writing to when he says this, was very similar to us and that it is very easy for us to jump to avoidance of grief. We don’t typically walk towards grief, especially other people who are going through grief.

We would rather try to fix it. We would rather try to medicate it or minimize it or avoid it or just offer platitudes, but not really enter in sacrificially into this idea of walking with somebody who is really, really hurting. And yet, look at the spirit of Christ. If we look at the person of Jesus who walked with those who were hurting and grieving, we look at his character, we understand that we are being conformed into the image of Jesus, then we have to understand this is a command to all followers

of Jesus. This is not a personality type that we’re talking about. This is not a suggestion or a recommendation. This is not only for counselors or empaths. This is something that all people are commanded who follow Jesus to do. And the reason why we need to be commanded is because it’s so easy for us to not do it.

And Paul’s concern in the book of Romans is that we live out our faith. He spent the first 11 chapters of Romans before Romans 12:15, laying down the groundwork and the foundational doctrines of the church and the things that we hold to and believe. And so in Romans 12 when he says rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn or weep with those who weep, he’s talking about living out what it is that we say we believe.

So emotional detachment, friends, has no place in the body of Christ. Isolation is not a is not a fruit of the spirit. We have to check our own hearts in those moments, our pride, why would we not weep with somebody who is weeping for biblical, legitimate reasons? It’s because of our own pride or because we just want to jump to solutions in those moments.

And so this call is for all of us who say that we follow Jesus. Second observation is just what I mentioned just a moment ago, you look at the character of Christ. Jesus is our example in this, is he not? We serve a savior, friends, who is not emotionally distant. We serve a savior who hears every cry, who sees every tear. He Psalm 56 says he counts those tears, he bottles them up.

He is aware of our grief and our sorrow and Jesus himself experienced great grief and sorrow in his life. And so as those who are being made more and more into the image of Jesus as we follow him, it makes sense then that we would be remade into the kind of people who then would walk towards people who are grieving and who are hurting and come alongside them.

Last observation I just want to point out is the powerful witness of a weeping church, the powerful witness of a weeping Christian, somebody who weeps with those who weep. It just communicates so much. If you think in your own life about the times that you’ve gone through difficulty or grief, I’m going to imagine that the most helpful ministry sometimes is not the things that people say to you in those moments.

You may not even remember what people say, but what you remember are those who were with you in those moments. You know who was there, you know who wasn’t there. And similarly, the presence of God, the tangible presence of God becomes, I think so much more real to people when we go through sorrow. That is when God is really at work.

Psalm 46 talks about how God is our refuge and our strength. He’s our present help in times of trouble. And so we as followers of Jesus get to be in a way, the hands and feet of Jesus to those who are hurting. We get to represent the tangible presence of God to somebody who needs it most. We often think that the best thing we can do is give them answers.

Sometimes the best ministry, friends, is to not give answers, is to just give the gift of your presence. And what a witness that gives to the world. We want everybody to see that the character of God, the heart of God is a heart of love. And that doesn’t again, necessarily mean that we agree with each and every decision that people are making around the world in those moments, but we can still lay down our pride and move towards people in those moments and ask God to not just change their situation

and to change them, but to change us. So I hope that this is helpful to you. I know that it’s challenging and encouraging to me as we look around us every day to how do we rejoice with those who rejoice and in this particular case, weep with those who weep. Thanks so much for joining us today, friends.