“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”: A Lamenting Prayer

Luke 19.41–44  Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

41 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 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. 43 Indeed, the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

Over the season of Lent, we have been looking at Jesus’ prayers in the gospel of Luke. We have seen that prayer was an important part of Jesus’ life. Throughout the gospel Jesus retreats at different times, typically going to a mountain to pray. Those times of prayer guide him and sustain him in his ministry. We are gifted with small bits of his prayer life, words he said aloud to God that we have been learning from over the past five weeks. 

But oftentimes, prayer isn’t practiced saying words aloud and sometimes there aren’t words to say. This is hard for me because I am a person who loves words and believes in the power of giving something a name because once we find a name for something, it starts to feel more manageable, so I want to find the perfect word for everything. I journal regularly to put my feelings and experiences in words on paper. I read to find better ways, better words to understand and describe the world, the experiences of those around me and my own. I love those feeling wheels that help me find the right word to match my emotions.

But the truth is sometimes they aren’t the right words. They don’t exist. Some feelings and experiences cannot be adequately described with words. Pain is too deep. News seems unfathomable. Nothing we say will help make it better. We need something deeper and stronger than words. So what do we do when there are no words? Oftentimes, we cry. Tears, crying, weeping, are all ways we can express those deep truths that words can lack. 

In the past several years, different people have taught me that crying can be a holy act of prayer. Tears can be prayers, those yearnings and emotions deep within us that we don’t have the words to describe might just need to leak from our eyes in order to express them to God. As each tear drops, we let out those burdens, thoughts, and emotions we have been holding inside for way too long. And God lovingly collects our tears, knowing what each one means and caring for them, just as God listens and cares for the prayers we voice with words. Sometimes we just need to cry.

Now, trying to preach on crying as prayer when crying is an act that begins when words end feels a little counterintuitive, so I’ll keep it short, but I want you to remember this…

It is okay to cry. I would say it is even good for us to cry. If Jesus cried, we probably all need to cry sometimes. And Jesus didn’t just cry, Jesus wept. 

In John, Jesus weeps over the death of a friend, but here in Luke, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. Jesus laments with his words, expressing his frustration at Jerusalem—they missed the miracle, the prince of peace, God-in-flesh. And by missing Jesus, a different path is now before Jerusalem that would be full of suffering and destruction. Jesus wept over all the pain that was to come. The tears that fell from Jesus’ eyes were prayers, prayers that went beyond words but came from a deep and honest place within Jesus. They were tears for Jerusalem and the people of God but they were also probably tears for himself, for his disciples, and for the hard and holy week that was to come. I believe those tears were prayers just as important and just as genuine as the prayers Jesus thought or spoke aloud using words. Weeping over Jerusalem was a form of prayer that strengthened and prepared Jesus for the week to come that would include protest, celebration, service, betrayal, and ultimately death on a cross. 

Jesus lamented that “they do not know the things that make for peace,” and that continues in our world today. We don’t recognize, believe in, or work toward God’s vision of peace—shalom, that deep well being for all—that God created the world to be in the beginning. People and communities we love are suffering and in pain. There will continue to be events in our personal lives, and around the world, that will leave us speechless, where we will have no good words to respond. And so we will need to cry, to weep. We will need to express our prayers not just through words, not just through actions, but also through our tears. 

But the good news is that we are not alone. Romans 8:26 says, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words.” When we don’t have words to pray, the Holy Spirit knows our hearts and prays for us. And how does the Holy Spirit pray for us? With groanings too deep for words. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like crying to me. The Spirit cries for us and with us. We are not alone.