Romans 12:15 — rejoicing and weeping with other people
15Rejoice with those who are rejoicing. Weep with those who are weeping.
Two symmetrical commands and no explanation. You are not asked to solve the problem of the one weeping, or to advise the one rejoicing: you are asked to keep time with them.
Short answer
Romans 12:15 gives two symmetrical commands and no explanation. It does not ask you to solve the problem of the person weeping, or to advise the person rejoicing. It asks for synchrony — and the first half is usually the harder one, because it requires not comparing.
- Written by
- Raphael Navarro Schmitt
- Reviewed by
- Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt
- Published on
- Reading time
- 2 min read
The passage is a run of short instructions about life in community, nearly all of them a single line.
It follows the image of one body with many parts, which supplies the reason: what happens to one affects the others. This verse is one of the practical applications of that image.
The symmetry of the sentence hides a real asymmetry. Weeping with those who weep is socially recognised as a virtue; rejoicing with those who rejoice is rarer, because it requires not measuring someone else’s good news against your own lack.
Neither command includes advice. You are not asked to explain the sadness or to moderate the gladness. The verb is one of accompanying, and the demand is for synchronised presence, even when your own day does not match the day of the person beside you.
In practice: when someone brings good news, celebrate without appending your own. When someone brings a loss, stay quiet instead of hunting for the bright side. Both are short and cost more than they look, particularly when you are in the opposite state.
Where this verse appears
The passage is a run of short instructions about life in community, nearly all of them a single line.
It follows the image of one body with many parts, which supplies the reason: what happens to one affects the others. This verse is one of the practical applications of that image.
What it says
The symmetry of the sentence hides a real asymmetry. Weeping with those who weep is socially recognised as a virtue; rejoicing with those who rejoice is rarer, because it requires not measuring someone else’s good news against your own lack.
Neither command includes advice. You are not asked to explain the sadness or to moderate the gladness. The verb is one of accompanying, and the demand is for synchronised presence, even when your own day does not match the day of the person beside you.
What to do with it today
In practice: when someone brings good news, celebrate without appending your own. When someone brings a loss, stay quiet instead of hunting for the bright side. Both are short and cost more than they look, particularly when you are in the opposite state.
A prayer to carry with you
Lord, teach me to celebrate what is not mine and to weep over what did not hit me. Let me be present the way the person needs, and not the way that is comfortable for me. Amen.