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3185 Japanese Hotel Offers Crying Rooms For WomenThere is a new phenomenon happening in Japanese culture. People are gathering in groups to view, for 40 minutes or more, sad commercials and videos for the purpose of having a group weep.  These events are called rui-katsu, or “tear seeking.”  These events have been held at mental health centers across Tokyo beginning in 2013. Organizer, Hidefumi Yoshida, claims that crying “clears the mind and reduces stress.” The crying must be done in a group, however to achieve the desired effect. Some think that these events are so popular in Japan because of 37 nationalities polled, the Japanese are the least likely to cry. Americans are among the most likely to cry.* What would John Wayne think about that?

            We are reminded in Ecclesiastes 3.4 that there is a time to cry. The New Testament not only accepts that weeping is part of the human experience in this sinful world, but encourages us to share in each other’s tears: Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep (Romans 12.15). Jesus certainly models such behavior. He appreciates and values the tears of the prostitute who washes his feet with those tears (Luke 7.38), and when he sees Mary of Bethany crying at his feet for her dead brother Lazarus he weeps as well (John 11.35). I really love that in the versification of the New Testament, those 2 words, “Jesus wept,” are set apart as a single verse. They stand apart like a monument to His humanity, His empathy, His love.

            In John 11 Jesus is joining a group weep. Mary is surrounded by family, and friends who have come to support her, cry with her. The text tells us that Mary’s tears, along with the weeping of the others cause Jesus to become so disturbed that He trembles (v.33). His first response (the response of almost any man to a woman’s tears), is to get about making things better. He says, “Where have you laid him?” (v.34). But  before He can head to the tomb, his emotions overwhelm Him and He cries with them.

            It is Jesus’ impulse to fix things when He sees a woman crying. This is not only true for those he knows well, but for complete strangers. In Luke 7.11-17, as He is entering the city of Nain, a large funeral procession is leaving it. The funeral is for the deceased only son of a widowed mother.  When Jesus sees her He has a visceral reaction, and says “Don’t cry” (v.13). Then He raises her son from the dead.

            In Isaiah 25, the prophet is singing a song of praise for all the blessings Yahweh will bestow when the Messiah comes. He writes, “He will swallow up Death for all time, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces” (v.8). Revelation 21.4 refers to this specific promise, and says it will happen when Jesus comes again. This group weep occurs after Jesus has descended, but before God declares “I am making all things new” (Revelation 21.1-5). The weeping is universal among the saved, but the experience ending this final group weep, although experienced by all, is very personal. It is tactile. It involves God touching each individual face. We have all seen and experienced the gesture – a thumb on the cheek, wiping away a tear. John tells us the bliss of eternity begins with God’s thumb upon our cheek, banishing tears forever.

            Jesus tells us of another reality going on at the same time.  In His last major sermon, the one in which He talks about final judgment, He describes being severed from God as a place of “outer darkness,” where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25.30). This is a group weep which will not “clear the mind and reduce stress.” It will not end with the caress of God’s comforting hand.

            At the end of the universe, of space and time, there will be two groups – both weeping. One will be comforted, and weep no more. One will weep forever. Each of us will be in the group we have chosen.

* “Crying it Out,”by Patrick St. Michel in The Atlantic, May 2015, p.23.

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