Diary of a (Maybe) Retired Pastor

Tears in Heaven

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

Luke 19:41-42

At last week’s Maundy Thursday service we were asked had we ever imagined what heaven would be like? I have often thought about what heaven would be like and those who have regularly listened to me preach may remember how I imagine heaven to be. However, there is one idea of heaven I have that I haven’t shared so much.

Most of us when thinking about heaven will likely turn to the end of the book of Revelation and recall the promises that there will be no more tears or suffering and so believe that heaven will be a place of unalloyed joy. But for some years now I have felt that that can’t quite be true, at least, not for God. At my best, I sometimes feel great sadness over the fact that billions of human beings will not know eternal life and be lost to eternal damnation (yes, I still believe in that!), but, in all honesty, most of the time it doesn’t bother me that much. But for God, surely it must be so different, the loss of so many for whom His Son suffered so much must be an eternal source of grief?

As we celebrated Communion on Maundy Thursday I was suddenly filled with another sadness, not for the obvious reason – that our Saviour indeed endured so much suffering for our sakes – but  because I felt Him grieving over His church.  I felt that He grieved over the way we behave towards each other, our harshness, our lack of kindness and generosity, our squabbles over doctrine, not just historically – when we even went to war against each other over our differences – but in the present day as we meet the contentious issues of  our times. Not that these are unimportant, but that the way we handle and express our sometimes deep differences seems little different from the way of the world and exhibits little grace or love.

Jesus stood looking over Jerusalem and wept. I feel that He must still be weeping as He looks over His church today.