Tears of God

On the Mount of Olives, a little chapel rests on a traditional site where Jesus may have stopped to weep over the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. At this site, Jesus could have looked across the Kidron valley and seen the entire temple complex and the city rising behind it; the view is strikingly beautiful;. I can imagine Jesus seeing that entire week in one glimpse, his sorrows, his trial, his death - and the people who were rejecting his sacrifice of love.

I also love the chapel, Dominus Flevit. It is shaped like tear drops falling on the hillside. Inside, there are mosaics and reliefs that commemorate Jesus sorrow over Jerusalem. The chapels concave ceiling is lined with strips of gold leaf 'trickling' down the roof, punctuated by a small, central opening in the ceiling that lets in light. To me, the church suggests the tears of God, streaming down from heaven, over people who refuse his compassion, his sacrifice, his love for them. Tears of heaven.

I was so moved by the thought that it overwhelmed me; God's tears for us, as Origen wrote. God's tears over our hurts, our brokenness. Gpd's tears of compassion and love for us.