The Salt in Tears
A time when salt is really needed.
Would you feel comfortable visiting someone in mourning?
I certainly might not at first.
The thought seems unpleasant and uncomfortable.
But of course this way of thinking about the situation is focused on our own discomfort of having to step into heartbreak from the outside.
It isn’t focusing on where the poor distraught soul might be.
And then it hit me…
This is about being salt.
What it requires to comfort those who mourn is the willingness to share tears.
Salty tears.
Stepping into heartbreak
to love a loved one
or a stranger
is the essence of what it means to be a follower of Christ.
Nothing flashy.
Actually the opposite.
Very raw.
Jesus’s brother James wrote about this subject.
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
James 1:26-27 (ESV)
First note that these verses aren’t written to pastors.
They are written to all who take their relationship with God seriously.
We can think we are religious, which is another way of saying our belief in God is important to our lives, but if all we do is talk about it, then our religiosity is worth less than a pinch of salt.
According to James, a religion that is “pure and undefiled” does two things.
First, it visits orphans and widows in their affliction.
Second, it doesn’t play with the world.
Why these two?
The first is an example of moving into grief and loss.
Orphans and widows have lost those they loved AND who protected them from complete destitution.
Perhaps this is grief at its worse, so certainly other situations of grief apply as well.
And what is the purpose of the one representing Jesus in this situation supposed to do?
Go back to the preceding verse to see that it has little to do with talking.
It has to do with being present - in the moment - and listening.
Perhaps it will be to weep beside them, and it continues as long as they need it.
And again, because we are representing Jesus to this one in mourning, remaining unstained from the world is a no-brainer.