1998 • restored June 2026 a reply to John 11:35 — “Jesus wept.”
Jesus wept once, at the grave of His friend. He stood there and cried, the way that you have cried. But the story didn’t end there: the stone was rolled away, and His friend walked out into the light of day. So when Jesus came back, the way He promised long ago, He didn’t ride in on the clouds. He appeared in every face, and smiled. “Weep no more,” His smile said. “Dry each other’s tears. God’s Divine Love is born in every child.” You can never lose it, you can never give it back. It was yours before you were born. You are made in God’s own image, the Light of the World. Set down your judgments, set down your fears. The peace you seek lives within you. It was always in your hand. In the arms of God you rest the way the lamb lies with the lion, and nobody is afraid. Given bread enough, leavened with love: this is God’s own body, and we share it. Granted life that does not end, made of nothing but the love we make. Given a quick and curious mind, a pair of open eyes, and good work for the hands to do. Healed and made whole together, the long pain ending, every broken heart on the mend. Bite your tongue, dodge the bullets, let the small wars pass. God is complete in a grain of sand, and all clichés, in time, come true. So set down your doubt. Let it go. This love was given to you free. You can stop looking now — you already hold what you were looking for. You were born of a glorious star. You are closer to the Truth than your own breath, and you will not have to travel far. Slow it down a bit. You ain’t goin’ nowhere. You’re already there. There ain’t no “there” to go — only here, only now. And it makes no difference at all whether you’re old or a child, safe in your own warm house or lost out in the wild. Love is who you are. You don’t need to know how. And when this life is over, don’t be afraid: death is a joyful family reunion, the whole table set again, everyone you ever missed looking up as you walk in. Remember the good times — a child skipping with a crooked smile through the sweet morning dew, grass wet underfoot, nobody telling you to hurry. That gladness was real. That gladness was God, and it is still in you. This gift of God’s Love does not dwindle — not in the depths you fall to, not in the worst you’ve done, not in the hatred you kindle. Never has Love been more. More cannot add to All. Nothing changes what I tell you. The universe was made perfect, and perfect it remains. God does not make mistakes.” And Jesus smiled, and the smile said: “Every living thing, on this Earth and beyond it, is my body and my blood. Take it in with every breath. Every moment is a joining. Every birth loosens the grip of death. I take your words to heart. I honor the way you see. So do the same for one another — and more than that: go play. Treat every face you meet as if the face were mine. Look for what joins us, not what divides. Find the fine thread that connects — pull it gently, and the whole world comes: every leaf, every face, every star strung on the one bright line, and the light running through all of it is the same light running through you.” “You grow with every step you take, with every thought you think. So think on this: how often have you known you had more than you need? How often have you known it feels good to be kind? How often have you known that God wants you to thrive? And how often, knowing, have you let yourself believe it? The past is a footprint in the dust. The future is the fruit of what we plant. But here and now is eternity enough to gather all the honey. There is plenty for everyone, and plenty of mouths to feed. You don’t live by dollars. You live by sense: the kind that’s love, the kind that’s common, the kind no coin can buy. So does a child of God have need for lawyers, guns, or money?” And Jesus smiled, and the smile said: “Hard lovers and easy riders too, I wink a nod of approval to you. I came eating and drinking, remember — I too love to get down on it, to dance, to throw back a few, to sit at the table with anyone the righteous wouldn’t sit beside. It’s your good company I want. And the same goes for all the others. Mohammad, the Buddha and I breathe as brothers. They have much to teach me, for I have much to learn. My message is simple: you are loved for who you are, not the costume you came in. As it is written, you are born Imago Dei — made perfect, and perfect you remain. Christian or Muslim, Zen or Jew, and those who believe in nothing at all but the feel of the morning dew — with all of you I pray and play, sing poems, sit in silence, and help make the world safe and kind. You can pick at it and criticize, or you can taste the sweet discovery. But division only feeds decay, and turning Love away only makes the ache go on. God wishes you nothing but good. Of that, you can be sure.” And Jesus smiled, and the smile said: “It goes hard, in the end, for the proud and the cruel, for those who hoard while others go without. So let me ask you plainly: do some deserve less than others? You are all my sheep. I know every one of you by name. Not one is worth less than the rest — not the last, not the least, not the one the world passed over. What reason could there ever be to deny your sisters and brothers? The truth is simple: what you cling to is not your wealth, and what you imagine you lack is not your poverty. Still waters run deep. A satisfied soul shares the first drink and the last. Everything you need, you were given. Your own heartbeat is proof enough. You were born whole and complete. I reach out my hand to you, if it’s a hand you need — but as I told you before, you are perfect just as you are. You are grown from God’s own seed. You are the air. You are the land and the sea. You are the All, down to your very core. You were beautiful the day you were born, and you will be beautiful evermore.” And Jesus smiled, and the smile said: “Think brave and original thoughts. Tread on fear. Choose words that hand other people heaven — for your words can do that: open the gate, or close it. Let your soul take the reins. Let your mind storm with light. Listen for the music that lifts the ordinary day. Your body is a glorious temple, perfect, and only here a while, raised up out of bone and spirit. You are magnificent creatures — I’ll say it again and again until you believe it. And here is how you’ll know me: you’ll recognize my voice every time you hear it, and you’ll pass it on every time you smile. That’s all the smile is — my voice, moving from face to face. The message never changes. I wish you a lover’s kiss, and plenty of time to rest a while.” “You are made of that same holiness that blesses the stars into view. The moon — whether it blooms bright or blue — is formed of the very same essence as you, rolling with the sky until the day is new. So make rhythms and rhymes, songs of compassion. They build the strength we lean on. Goodness grows wherever justice stands, so smile on one another without needing to know why. A fortune grabbed by taking goes rotten in the hand. Your only wealth is the love you give away; everything else is debt. What you need and what you want are not the same thing — and there is nothing in your past you have to carry forward. You come alive by letting God’s Love grow in you. Health and sickness both come and go like weather, like everything else in nature. So tend to one another. Speak with passion, tell the truth, and let your old guilt go. Dance when your feet find the floor — to be light in motion is a blessing to everyone watching. Sleep under the stars. Look at each other and see abundance, not lack. Live each day as if it were your last, and each day, let the past go. Think well of yourself, and know there is no distance between us. The chain of love has no missing link. Our bond is closer than the mind can think. Do what reveals joy; it makes you rich. Do what feels good and true; it makes you whole. And if there’s one temptation worth resisting, resist the temptation to judge. Instead of cutting someone down, give them a gentle nudge. Make peace your passion. Give, and give freely. Be kind to one another, clear-eyed and unhurried, and you will be rich, and happy, and wise.” Then Jesus offered namaste, and smiled one last time — the divine in me, bowing to the divine in you — and the smile said: “Take comfort: our hearts are woven together now and always. My blood runs through your veins. I am not waiting at one door. I am waiting at every door. Remember who you are, and pay no mind to the lies you were taught. Think no fear, and fear no thought. God’s Love is alive wherever you look. Don’t go hunting for the key — throw away the lock, and open the door. Let God guide your eyes, and you will see true, and you will live right. Sit with my words a while, then travel far beyond them. I kiss your face gently as the sun comes up, and in the darkest night I am the light inside you that does not go out. Love’s own language wrote you, and sings your song forever. God knows every Way, and is always glad to give. So plant a spiritual garden. Tend the seed. Look for the things that bring us all together. The Universe gives back to you exactly what you believe. This Truth is yours, just for the seeing: give to others what you would receive. God’s Love is alive in every living being — in Me, and in You, and in every child.” Rob Chavez Composed July 31, 1998 • restored 2026 © 2026 Rob Chavez. All Rights Reserved.