“The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
Psalm 51:17 ( RSV)
If Jesus wept over the physical death of Lazarus, there’s no doubt that He felt sadness and wept over anyone’s spiritual death as well.
Jesus probably felt sad for the rich young man who claimed to obey every commandment, but still turned and walked away from Him. He had to feel sad knowing Judas, who spent so much time in fellowship with Him, ended up turning on Him in betrayal.
God is sad for anyone who turns and walks away from Him, which is illustrated in the story of the prodigal son. Jesus reveals the Father’s heart through this parable, in how the Father runs to embrace his son, not standing, angry with crossed arms. He celebrated that his son was dead, but is now alive, and He desires everyone to be made alive again.
Peter’s second letter tells us that God is not willing for anyone to perish, but He desires for all people to come to repentance. God may not be willing to lose anyone, yet He gives everyone the freedom to choose. Then He pursues after them day and night until they return. The 19th century English poet, Francis Thompson, referred to the Lord as the “Hound of Heaven”, who chased him down through days and years, as he hid from Him through his laughter and his tears, until he finally surrendered to the determined love of God, who followed him like the hound of heaven. He never loses the scent of one lost soul, and like a hound, He chases after them every day, until they return to Him. That’s the mercy of God.
David described a broken and contrite heart as being the best sacrifice that we can offer to God. The definition of “contrite” is to feel or express remorse or penitence; affected by guilt. We not only feel it for ourselves, but we pray it for those we know and love, to experience the same repentance that leads to life.
Our guilt is washed away in His boundless mercy, and so we want that for anyone we care for, and until it happens, we feel sorrow in our hearts for them. That sorrow is the sacrifice of a contrite heart that David wrote about.
The apostle Paul spoke from a contrite heart to the Romans, when he said, “I feel great sorrow and unceasing grief in his heart for my own people. “
Jesus said from the cross, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.” Those people seemed to know exactly what they were doing to Jesus, but in His contrite heart, Jesus felt sorrow for their lost souls. God wants what is best for our human psyche, to both receive His complete soul cleansing and to also desire it for the people in our lives. Those who haven’t yet experienced God’s love through His forgiveness and mercy, are missing out on the joy of loving Him. Jesus even said, “whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” (Luke 7:47)
Lord, give us a more contrite heart, by sharing with us, your own sorrow for lost souls. Remind us that you are sad for all those who walk away from you, so that we will pray more fervently for them. Please chase down after every soul we lift up to you today, until they finally surrender to your love and mercy. Amen
( I’m sharing an animated portrait of Jesus weeping.)