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August 27, 2006
Grief
In all the world nothing feels worse than the grief that we feel when a loved one dies. During such a time, words alone cannot alleviate our grief. The most that someone can do for us is to cry with us and to lend a shoulder to cry on.
The Bible tells of the time when a man named Lazarus died. His sisters Martha and Mary grieved. Lazarus had a friend named Jesus who went to Martha and Mary after Lazarus died. How did Jesus respond to their grief?
”When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, ”Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ”Where have you laid him?” he asked. ”Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, ”See how he loved him!”*
Jesus wept. The ultimate preacher did not respond to Mary’s grief with words from a religious text. He cried instead. As the Jews pointed out, Jesus loved Lazarus. It would be correct to say that Jesus loved Mary, too. The one who claimed that he was “the way, the truth and the life” felt the same grief that Mary felt. And it would be reasonable to believe that Jesus gave Mary his shoulder to cry on.
What does this story mean to us today? Well, if God loves you like people say that He does, then He is going to be crying with you during your times of grief. He will do so even if you deny that He exists, because His love for you does not depend on you believing in Him.
In short, when you grieve, you do not grieve alone, whether you know it or not.
*John 11:32-36 (NIV)
Last Tuesday my wife's family was shaken by the sudden deaths of two loved ones.
One was my sister-in-law Bessy. The other was Brian, a quadriplegic man whom Bessy attended to around the clock. The two of them died in an automobile accident.
Thus, I spent this past weekend attending two funerals.
So, when I write about grief, I do so as one who is currently grieving.
- David
Cross-posted at Dodo World.
Posted by Dodo David at August 27, 2006 09:11 PM
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Comments
My sincerest condolences.
Posted by: Aaron at August 28, 2006 08:34 AM
My heart and my prayers are with you.
Posted by: Gayle Miller at August 28, 2006 10:30 AM
Our sincerest condolences. May God comfort among the mourners of the world.
Posted by: Charles at August 28, 2006 11:18 AM