A Good Cry Series

Genesis 50:20-21 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (ESV)

Literally, he comforted them and spoke close to the heart. Through his tears, Joseph trusted God and loved his brothers. Instead of holding a grudge against them, he was gracious towards them.

And that’s what your tears can do for you, if you choose to let them. They can make you tender towards others, or they can make you tough to get along with. Tears can open your heart, or they can close your heart. The choice is yours.

Miroslav Volf (1956 –), a Croatian theologian, says, “To triumph fully, evil needs two victories, not one. The first victory happens when an evil deed is perpetrated; the second victory, when evil is returned. After the first victory, evil would die if the second victory did not infuse it with new life. (Miroslav Volf, The End of Memory, Eerdmans, 2006, p. 9; www.PreachingToday.com)

Please, don’t infuse evil with new life by returning it on the perpetrators. Instead, like Joseph, trust God to do his part and love your brothers. Let your tears open your heart, not close it off.

South Africa had been plagued for generations by terrible violence between the white ruling minority and the black majority. Once the whites relinquished power and Nelson Mandela become president, the question in need of an answer was clear: How does a country with so much pain and violence and division in its past move forward?

Bishop Desmond Tutu and others established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a way forward. The goal was for those who had committed atrocities in the past to come forward and tell the truth – both blacks and whites. But it didn't end there. After confessing the truth, the goal was to bring reconciliation and forgiveness – to break the cycle of hate so the entire country could move forward.

In one of those sessions, a South African woman stood in an emotionally charged courtroom, listening to white police officers acknowledge the atrocities they had perpetrated in the name of apartheid.

Officer van de Broek acknowledged his responsibility in the death of her son. Along with others, he had shot her 18-year-old son at point-blank range. He and the others partied while they burned his body, turning it over and over on the fire until it was reduced to ashes.

Eight years later, van de Broek and others arrived to seize her husband. A few [hours] later, shortly after midnight, van de Broek came to fetch the woman. He took her to a woodpile where her husband lay bound. She was forced to watch as they poured gasoline over his body and ignited the flames that consumed his body. The last words she heard her husband say were “forgive them.”

Now, van de Broek stood before her awaiting judgment. South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission asked her what she wanted.

“I want three things,” she said calmly. “I want Mr. van de Broek to take me to the place where they burned my husband's body. I would like to gather up the dust and give him a decent burial.