The value of tears (John 11:32-44; Revelation 21:1-6a)
Jesus acts in response to real human suffering and actual human tears.
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“Can I have a tear for my pocket?” When I was a child, my mother often asked me this question when I had been crying. As far as I can recall, I always answered yes. After all, my tears didn’t seem to be doing me any good, and they were only going to splash down onto my clothes or onto the floor otherwise. Having received my consent, my mother would rub her thumb across one of my lower eyelids—saturating it with brine—and then plunge it into one of her pockets.
