Now let’s go to 3 Nephi 17 and talk about tears.
14 And it came to pass that when they had knelt upon the ground, Jesus groaned within himself, and said: Father, I am troubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel.
15 And when he had said these words, he himself also knelt upon the earth; and behold he prayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written, and the multitude did bear record who heard him.
16 And after this manner do they bear record: The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father;
17 And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.
18 And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of praying unto the Father, he arose; but so great was the joy of the multitude that they were overcome.
19 And it came to pass that Jesus spake unto them, and bade them arise.
20 And they arose from the earth, and he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full.
21 And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.
22 And when he had done this he wept again;
23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones. (3 Nephi 17)
Again, there is a lot going on here that is not explicit in the text, but let’s focus on the tears.
Why does Jesus say, “And now behold, my joy is full?” What causes him to have not just joy, but a fulness of joy? Why then? And why does he weep? He wept in the New Testament (see John 11:35). Were those tears brought on by the same experiences, thoughts, and feelings? No. He has wept (and weeps) both tears of sorrow and tears of joy.
Could Jesus have had a fulness of joy in the faithfulness of the Nephites without first experiencing the faithlessness of the people in Israel? I don’t think so.
I had an interesting experience a while ago. I found myself in an unbelievably difficult situation that lasted for months, and the darkness in that situation had been extremely taxing. One morning, I woke up feeling much “lighter”—so much so that it was weird, and I asked the Lord what had happened to bring about such a drastic change. Without being explicitly directed to do so, but feeling undeniably prompted to do so, just the same, I tried to look back on some priceless memories from my life—memories that were dear to me and that I should have easily recollected. It was one of the strangest feelings I’ve ever had in my life—not being able to fully recall things that were, somehow, still faint in my mind and which (I had the clear understanding) I could have recalled perfectly before going to bed the night before. Highly surreal.
I asked the Lord again, “What is happening?”
His answer was slightly tongue-in-cheek, but so tender and genuine that I immediately felt his love in the lesson he was teaching. He said, “I’m wiping away your tears. Don’t you want me to wipe away your tears?”
And in a split second, I understood that all of the suffering I was experiencing was intertwined with the love I had towards him and others. There was no way to separate the two, and if I wanted relief from suffering, he would have to make me forget about the ways in which I had lived in his love and the ways in which I had demonstrated that love to others.
Tears welled up, as all I could whisper in response was “no,” and in my heart, I begged him to give the memories back to me, which he did, and I found myself, once again, in unfathomable suffering.
That experience has had me thinking a lot about these two passages of scripture:
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Revelation 21:4)
28 And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?
29 And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity? (Moses 7)
Does God weep? Who wipes his tears away?
Do you want to become like him? Do you want to live as he does? If you did, who would wipe your tears away?
I’m not trying to paint heaven as a sad and hopeless place. Quite the contrary, actually. And if you want some extra credit on why that is, I suggest a continued, serious study of Moses 7.
As I have applied more and more of the gospel in my life, I have found that my tears have…hmmm, what’s the best word? “Integrated.” I have shed tears of incomprehensible sorrow for the treatment I have received at the hands of others who neither understand my love for them, nor how that love has motivated my actions toward them, and I have shed tears of joy for the increased understanding of how much God loves us and feels the same way. And those two types of tears used to be separate. I would cry them at different times. But I find that to be less and less the case. Anymore, in difficult moments, when I pour out my soul to God and share with him my thoughts and feelings about the afflictions I’m going through, I find myself expressing a concurrent combination of understanding, gratitude, and joy because the things he has seen fit to put me through have always led me closer to him.
It is necessary for us to experience contrast in order for us to comprehend the degree of opposition that exists in all things. And if you are unwilling to experience the greatest sorrow in the service of God and for the benefit of others, you can also never fully experience—much less, appreciate—the greatest joy.