Bulletin Articles
Weep with Those who Weep
Given within a list of exhortations, we find the well-known statement, “weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:15). Let’s see it within that list. Please read Romans 12:1-21, then notice how these exhortations relate to how we are to treat others. Paul shows the importance of how members of the body are to interact. All have differing gifts and are to use them appropriately. Among them, there are those who are gifted in acting with mercy, and they are to do so with cheerfulness (v. 8). Then Paul shows that love is to be genuine, filled with brotherly affection and showing honor to one another. This love does not embrace evil. Rather, godly love abhors the evil and clings to the good. It seeks to contribute to the needs of the saints and show hospitality. Love looks to bless, live in peace, and never take personal vengeance.
In Romans 13, Paul continues the thoughts on love by saying this is what we owe to all (Rom 13:8). The baseline command is what Jesus called the second greatest commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:36-40). Consequently, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (v. 10).
Under this umbrella of love is found Paul's exhortation to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Elsewhere Paul says that love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). This corresponds to genuine love that abhors what is evil and clings to the good. Yet love not only rejoices, it also weeps. As love clings to the good, love seeks to show mercy and compassion.
Weeping and mourning are beautiful in their time (Eccl 3:4). Some may limit the weeping in Romans 12 to mourning over sins, but I see no need to be so restrictive given the immediate context of serving one another as members of the body of Christ. People mourn and weep for many reasons, and these are not all related to sin (though some are). John Chrysostom (4th - 5th cents.) wrote of this passage that Paul “wishes us to be penetrated with the warmth of friendship throughout. And this is why he goes on in these words, that we are not only to bless, but even feel compassion for their pains and sufferings, whenever we happen to see them fallen into trouble.” He wrote that “there is none so hard-hearted as not to weep over him that is in calamity” and that there is “nothing that ties love so firmly as sharing both joy and pain one with another” (Homilies). We can, at the same time, show mercy and grace while we refuse to be conformed to the world. We can abhor what is evil while we cling to the good, show hospitality, and love fervently. We do these because we love.
This is about more than surface friendship. This is a deep family connection because we are members of the same body. To rejoice with one another requires that we be genuinely pleased with the successes and joys that others experience. To weep with one another requires compassion, sympathy, and mercy as we bear the burden of pain with those who are suffering. This also requires that we lean into the relationships that we share, getting to know each other and nourishing the fellowship that is such a blessing in Christ. Our ties ought to be so strong that we would never wish to be out of fellowship with one another. After all, we would be a family that rejoices and weeps together, sharing both joys and pains as we point one another to God.
This level of familial connection is difficult in today's culture in which people hide behind screens and stand aloof from one another. We may fail to see the value of face to face interaction. Yet how shall we rejoice and weep together if we don’t know each other or if our contact is minimal and we merely brush by another with a faint hello?
To weep with those who weep requires knowing that one is in pain, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually. We may not understand what one feels or why, but that is not necessary for compassion. We are not in a position to judge the why of one’s pain. We don’t get to tell people when they should or shouldn’t hurt. When people are hurting, we need not come with a host of answers like Job’s friends; we just need to be there to weep with them.
The greatest example of weeping with those who weep is Jesus. “Jesus wept” is quite profound in its brevity (John 11:35). His compassion and mercy brought Him into this world to die for us. Consequently, we know that we have One who sympathizes with our weaknesses, having faced the same temptations, and now gives us confidence to draw near to the throne of grace (Heb 4:15-16). Because He was One who wept, we can rejoice in salvation (Heb 5:7-9).
Make it personal and let us learn to weep with those who weep. Our relationships will be better for it and our love as a family with grow.
