Luke 7:13

‘WEEP NOT!’

‘And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.’

Luke 7:13

The poor widow of Nain had lost her only son; and, surely, as she followed his bier, the most stoical could not have rebuked her for weeping. Nature, with its poor dumb wounds, large and bleeding, said, with resistless voice, ‘Weep.’ And yet Jesus says, ‘Weep not!’ Is Jesus, then, at strife with nature? Christ is not at strife with nature, but introduces another, and often opposing, force which produces a profitable and blessed resultant. Nature would say. Weep and weep and weep; Jesus says, Weep and hope and rejoice. ‘Weep not!’

I. The bitter tears of remorse.—To many we can yet give still happier advice: Do not now by disobedience, or hardness, or vice, or mere thoughtlessness, fill the bitter springs which will overflow in future years, and make your life a sour and joyless swamp in room of a fruitful garden. Doom not yourselves to call down into unresponsive graves, ‘I repent of all I did and said.’ But even to the prodigal with no earthly father or mother to hear his confession, to the man who has wasted his life and with no earthly future, to the man whose life and words have poisoned the very air and killed many a tender plant of virtue and religion, Christ says, Weep tears of repentance and not of remorse. ‘Oh, it is a ravelled weft,’ said such a man in reviewing his life. None but Christ can disentangle it and still make it part of a garment for thee, if not of beauty, yet not of shame. ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.’

II. The rebellious tears of ingratitude.—How many in weeping forget all the goodness of the past, and make of their former blessings the very furnace which pours forth their burning iron tears! ‘A sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier things.’ But surely this is base ingratitude. Is it true, then, that all the garnered memories and blessings of the past only serve to make the winter which has come upon you more terrible and resourceless? Look up and see the Brother born for adversity by your side. He at least lives; and if you will have closer communion with Him henceforth than in the past, your tears will lose their hardness and be akin to joy.

III. The inconsolable tears of hopelessness.—Weep not as they that have no hope. Your sea of grief is not shoreless. Your bark is not helmless. He Who led His people of old through fire and water, and brought them to a wealthy place, is leading you onwards. The very waves of your trouble are rolling towards the unseen blessed shore, and wafting you to the desired haven. ‘No affliction is for the present joyous but grievous; nevertheless afterwards it worketh the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby.’ The draught may be bitter, but it has healing in it. ‘The cup which My Father giveth Me to drink, shall I not drink it?’

IV. The luxurious tears of selfishness.—You are not to let your tears, like a sea, cut off your helpfulness and sympathies from the rest of the world while you sit in the luxurious islet of self-pity.

Illustration

‘Thus spake He,—“Weep no more!

Be still, sad heart! Be dry, ye moistened eyes!

Thus to the living I the dead restore.

Sleeper, awake, arise!”

Then at His bidding came

To those cold lips the warm, returning breath;

Then did He kindle life’s extinguished flame,

Victor o’er Sin and Death.

And thus He ever stands—

Friend of the fallen, wiping all tears away;

Wherever Sorrow lifts her suppliant hands,

And Faith remains to pray.

Where’er the wretched flee,

From the rude conflict of this world distrest,

Consoling words He whispers—“Come to Me,

And I will give you rest!” ’