Leah Holloway-Nilsen
Verse 26 in this text from Romans, “likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words,” is a relatively well-known and a beloved verse of the Bible. It is found in images on the internet, in sympathy cards, and so forth. It is a verse that brings comfort to many because it promises that when we do not know what to pray or how to pray, the Spirit intercedes to God for us “and God who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit.” (Vs. 27). This is a gift to us, who are “groan[ing] inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (Vs. 23).
For human beings the act of sighing tends to be related to the feelings and emotion of lamentation, although there are certainly sighs of relief - which of course explains why Romans 8:26 is interpreted and used the way it is. Humans are not the only creatures that sigh. I have dog, and for those that have dogs or have been around them, you may have noticed that they sigh from time to time. When my dog lays down and offers an audible sigh, I have looked at him and wondered either aloud or in my head, what on earth he has to sigh about, as his life is really quite good. Naturally, I had to look it up and I learned that dogs and most other animals, sigh in order to express contentment and a feeling of safety.
This is not meant to be about starting a debate on whether or not dogs and other creatures do or do not pray, but rather, perhaps this is an expansion from a human-centered, or anthropocentric, way of understanding what it means that the “Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” Are we not also unable to adequately offer prayers of thanksgiving for the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ? What would it mean for us to think about the sighs of the Spirit not only carrying our lamentations to God, but our inexpressible hope as well?
Someone once told me “Lent is a 40 day sigh,” which at the time I interpreted to be about the introspective reflection of this season. Perhaps it is more though. Lent is the 40 day sigh as we place particular focus on reflection and repentance, but it can also be intermingled with the sigh of contentment and hope, knowing that we are heading towards the cross. The cross where it is made known to creation just how far God’s love in and through Jesus Christ will go for God’s people, and it is to and through death. There is no place that God’s love will not go for God’s beloved creation because of Jesus Christ. In meditating on this, maybe all there is left to do is sigh.
