大象传媒

Good morning. 'Don't cry for me Argentina' must be one of the few epitaphs to be adopted into a West End Musical. The words for the hit song taken from 'Evita' by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber reportedly appear on the grave of Eva Peron, who died aged just 33 on this day in 1952.
听
There are dangers in drawing on a story that owes much to popular hagiography and in over-simplifying the turbulent politics of Argentina more than 60 years ago. But still Evita emerges as a president's wife who captured the hearts of the poor and the marginalised, especially the nation's women. At her death, many in Argentina did indeed cry for her passing, no doubt because in life, she had shed tears along with them.
听
Of course she was not universally appreciated. Many in the ruling classes saw her as a threat. This was true in Jesus time as well, when the Roman Empire and the religious leaders in Jerusalem, saw Christ's solidarity with the excluded as a danger. But while the elite conspired to kill him, Jesus cried for them all, the people of Jerusalem, its rich and poor alike.
听
His tears reflect the common humanity expressed in many of the Psalms, those Jewish songs that deal with our sadness, anger and loss. They remind us that crying is not just for children.
听
Sometimes we all need permission to weep for people we know who've died or are suffering. We cry for ourselves and for the many struggling in our country. We need to lament a world where so many have so little and when so few have so much. In our prayers we do cry for such a world, and commit ourselves afresh to work for change.
听
Jesus, who cries for us
listen to all those whose hearts are breaking
and whose eyes are dim with weeping:
Use us to bring comfort to them
and to work for a world
where our mourning might yet be turned into dancing.
Amen.