Tears as the language of the heart
Crying is a universal gesture. It crosses the ages, cultures and languages. In the Bible, tears are much more than a simple expression of pain or sadness. They become a language in their own right, a cry from the heart that God understands. They are never scorned or ignored. On the contrary, they are welcomed, collected, sometimes even transformed.
In the book of Psalms, tears are present on numerous occasions. The psalmist weeps for his loneliness, his faults, injustice, loss, fear. He says: "You count my wandering steps; gather my tears into your wineskin: are they not written in your book?" (Psalm 56:9). This powerful image reveals to us a God who does not let anything be lost in our lives, not even a tear. Every drop shed carries a meaning, a weight, a memory.
The tears of biblical figures
The great biblical figures all wept at some point. David, a powerful king and a man after God's own heart, wept at the death of his son Absalom. He does not hide his grief. His tears were public, intense, human. Jeremiah, the prophet, is nicknamed "the prophet of tears". He weeps for his people, for Jerusalem, for the evil he sees and the destruction that is approaching.
Even strong men, even prophets, weep. Their tears are not a sign of weakness, but of spiritual sensitivity. To weep is to love. To weep is to be open to others, to God, to the suffering of the world. In the Book of Tobit, Tobit and Sara, each in their solitude and distress, weep in silence. And God hears. He sends the angel Raphael, whose name means "God heals". Tears call for healing.
Jesus and human tears
Jesus himself weeps. He does not look away from the pain. He does not remain impassive. When he sees Mary weeping over the death of her brother Lazarus, he is moved. He wept too. This moment, so simple, so human, is deeply moving. The Son of God, the one who is going to raise Lazarus from the dead, begins by weeping with those who are weeping. He shares their grief before transforming it.
This gesture says a lot about Jesus' heart. He is in no hurry to perform a miracle. He first enters into the suffering, inhabits it. He shows us that tears have their place, even when there is hope. Later, as he approached Jerusalem, he wept over the city. He weeps to see hearts closed, opportunities missed, love rejected. His tears are marked by deep sadness, but also by immense love.
Tears in prayer
Tears can become prayer. When words fail, when the pain is too great, tears speak for us. Samuel's mother, Anne, prays in silence, her lips moving, her eyes full of tears. The priest Eli thinks she is drunk, but she replies, "I am a sorrowing woman, I was pouring out my soul before the Lord." And God hears her prayer.
In Christian spiritual traditions, certain tears are called "tears of compunction": tears that come from a heart touched by God's love, by an awareness of his mercy. These are not tears of sadness, but tears of awakening, of return, of grace.
Tears that are fruitful
Tears in the Bible are never useless. They have a mysterious fruitfulness. Psalm 126 makes this clear: "Those who sow in tears will reap in song." There is in the suffering offered, in the sadness traversed with faith, a promise of new life.
Even Christ's weeping on the cross, mingled with his blood, is a source of resurrection. The silence of Holy Saturday, the weeping of the disciples, the distress of Mary, find their response on Easter morning. Joy does not come instead of tears, but through them. The human heart, passed through trial, is more sensitive, more open, more receptive.
Conclusion
Tears in the Bible are never despised. They are seen, heard, gathered. They express all that the heart cannot say. They can be the beginning of healing, of a return to God, of inner transformation. To weep is to enter into a profound dialogue with the One who knows us better than we know ourselves. And one day, as promised in Revelation, God will wipe every tear from our eyes. He will not make them disappear as if they had never existed, but he will take them in his hands, tenderly, like a precious treasure.
