Adequately Acquainted with Grief.
Sometimes things we read pitch us right into the pits of
feelings that we would rather not consider or remember. The last Sunday school lesson
for the month of May is about the death of our savior and the horrors involved
in His death. Having heard and read descriptions of His prayers in the “garden,”
the illegal trial, the mockery before and during His crucifixion, and then the
strange sequences of the darkness, the earthquake, the tearing of the temple
veil, and the broken tombs of several who were later raised from the dead, these
things stay in one’s memory. But the descriptions were written after the
fact of the resurrection. In my estimation, the grief felt by so many but
especially those disciples and family members of Christ had to have been the
kind that took away their feelings of hope entirely. Yes, He said that He would
rise again. They remembered Lazarus. They had witnessed all the many miracles
of life being restored, but they were living in the absolute most grievous time
of their lives. Their master, their Lord, the son of God, was dead and buried.
How do you suppose they handled their grief?
Grief has a way of taking one’s breath away and squeezing
one’s chest tight against each attempt to breathe. It’s not just the initial
heartbreak; it is the realization of death’s finality. Even knowing that we can
look forward to a resurrection, losing a mate, a child, a dear friend, parents
are all things that shock our heart and leave us trying to breathe without deep
sobs. Nothing in this life can ever mean as much to us as those we love and
feel we have lost. And maybe that is why God has given us so many promises to
tell us that He has kept us and planned for us before we were even born! HE
will never have to grieve for us since God gave HIS son as a sacrifice to guarantee
our return to life. Abraham taking his son to be given as a sacrifice was a forerunner
of what God would do with His son—a sacrifice. But Christ made it known that no
one TOOK His life; HE laid it down as the sacrifice as His Father had asked Him.
Even so, Christ was more than adequately acquainted with grief. He knew what
His disciples would face in this world. He knew of those who would die for
their beliefs. But He also knew that they would be in heaven with Him.
As humans, we know so many people who have been called Christians.
And then there are those who have been baptized while just as addicted to
whatever as ticks are addicted to blood. We cannot judge them—any of them. Our work
is to spread the love that has been shared with us and encourage others to be
led to God’s kingdom. Meanwhile, while many of us are also adequately
acquainted with grief, we must breathe with joy as we learn to be filled with
God’s love. May we continue to be encouraged and to be encouragers.
Rest well, my friends. You are loved.
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