Sermon Illustrations
Jesus Weeps with Us
In Either Way, I Win: God's Hope for Difficult Times, Lois Walfrid Johnson writes about visiting Oklahoma City, a city that was changed forever by the terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people:
In the national memorial building on the Murrah Building site, 168 empty chairs are placed in the location where each person sat when he or she died.
Beyond that memorial and across another street is a statue constructed by St. Joseph's Catholic Church. The statue's powerful image represents a tall, white-robed Christ. He stands with his back to the busy street and the place where the federal building once stood. The representation of Christ faces a brick wall in which there are 168 empty spaces;one space for each person who died. With bowed head Jesus faces that symbol of loss, covers his face with one hand, and weeps.
In whatever suffering we know, in whatever "Why, God?" we ask, we cannot forget one important truth: Jesus Christ weeps with us.