Collective Sorrow
What would it look like for communities to take honoring collective grief/sorrow seriously?
Luke 23:28
Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.
In this brief but profound moment, Jesus invites the women of Jerusalem—and us—to turn our mourning outward, toward the real suffering and brokenness of the world.
His words remind us that grief is not meant to be avoided or silenced but embraced as part of honest living. Grief awakens compassion, softens hardened hearts, and reveals what is deeply broken in our lives and communities. By urging them to "weep for yourselves and for your children," Jesus calls for an awareness of generational pain and collective sorrow—a recognition that the world’s wounds are not distant or abstract but close, real, and in need of healing.
Embracing grief makes space for transformation; only by acknowledging sorrow can we seek justice, peace, and renewal. In grief, we find not despair, but the seeds of hope.
What “generational pain” do you carry or witness in your family or culture?
What does it mean for Jesus to redirect grief away from himself and toward the community? What would it look like for communities to take honoring collective grief/sorrow seriously?
—Pepa Paniagua