When Cries Are Heard
It Makes All the Difference
The first thing we did when we were born is cry. Flowing tears and screaming fears betray our sense of panic and sudden disconnection. But our cries were heard, and that made all the difference. We were heard, held and swaddled, caressed and kissed, and fed, and calmed with lullaby songs. Our cries gave way to comfort because we were loved.
We’ve cried many times since then. Sometimes our cries were inspired by joy. Other times they bore the liquid fruit of our pain. Sometimes they were heard, and sometimes not. When our cries are heard it makes all the difference.
The arc of the Biblical story has a lot to do with the crying and tears of both kinds - screams of agony and shouts of joy. It features Israelite slaves in Egypt crying out in desperation under the abusive power of a merciless Empire. Yet their cries are heard by the God of The Exodus. Moses is called and comes to help. “Let my people go!” is the truth declared to Power. The Red Sea is crossed, the wilderness is wandered, the commandments are given, the land is promised. The new found Freedom of the Exodus leads the people to joyful dancing, and singing the song of Miriam - the one about “the horse and rider”of the Empire being “thrown into the sea!”
Yet, the Biblical Story and history itself, testifies that Empires have often been the cause of our tears. From the time that Cain - the land Owner, murders his brother, Abel - the Wandering Shepherd, God has been hearing our blood cry out from the ground. God heard the tears of the little boys killed by Pharaoh, and later by Herod (the so called “Great”). God hears our “wailing and lamentation” of “Rachel,” who symbolizes all Mothers, “weeping for her children, and refusing to be consoled, because they are no more.”
Even today, our own American Empire feels the same need to threaten, and often to cause “wailing and lamentation” in order to protect its own power. What else can we make of public statements like, “We’ll bomb them into the stone age”, or “A whole civilization will die tonight”? What else can we conclude about the brutal, and likely illegal, immigration enforcement policies we’ve chosen to employ over the past year or so? The ones that have resulted in many deaths, including those of American citizens. The ones we have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears.
In the Gospel stories, Jesus is often seen walking with others when someone cries and begs for his help. His disciples tend push the crying ones away, saying something to the effect of - “shut up! And stop disrupting the parade.” But Jesus mirrors the God of the Exodus by hearing them, helping them, healing them. And as the story develops, the eyes of prophetic imagination sees the God of the Exodus living with the peoples, because they belong to God, and God belongs to them. Then God is seen wiping their tears and calling an end to death, mourning, pain and crying. The Peace of Shalom restored again.
Whether you believe in God or not, you likely believe in the “godliness” of Mercy and Compassion and Justice. The godliness which hears the pains and fears of others, and as our mothers did for us, you wish to come and care, hold and help and heal so that tears are wiped, grief is shared and fear is held at bay by love.
And that makes all the difference.