Good Grief!
“Good grief!” I said, remembering Charlie Brown’s signature phrase. And I felt like him too, only more so.
“Good grief!” I said, remembering Charlie Brown’s signature phrase. And I felt like him too, only more so. Everything always went wrong for poor Charlie, but at least we got a good chuckle out of it.
For me the loss was far more real: a shattered dream of how I thought my life would go, broken relationships, salt in wounds that just kept bringing the grief to mind.
I don’t like to grieve. I’d rather numb my feelings and move on with a (fake) smile. Grief can never be good, right?!
Then why did Jesus grieve?
Lazarus was deathly sick. Mary and Martha were worried to death. But they knew Jesus! So, they sent a message to him.
But Jesus didn’t come.
Lazarus’ strained breathing grew shallow, his eyes closed.
But Jesus didn’t come.
Four days! Four days after Lazarus had died Jesus finally arrived!
Mary and Martha, both say the obvious to Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, this wouldn’t have happened!”
And Jesus wept.
Because he loved them. Because he loved Lazarus. And this was a tragedy! Sickness and death were never meant to come for his beloveds. Sin and pain were never meant to afflict God’s children. So he wept.
Everything depends on what “this” means
Of course, Mary and Martha were right. If Jesus had been there, this — their brother’s death — wouldn't have happened.
But everything depends on what "this" means.
As they stood at the tomb, Jesus told them to roll the stone away. But Martha said, “But Lord, he’s already been dead for four days, there will be a stench!” As if to say, again, Lord, you missed your chance, what can you possibly do now, he’s already dead!
But Jesus replied, "Didn't I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40).
Good grief!
Jesus wept because he loved his friends. He wept because he loved the whole world.
Grief honors the reality of a broken world. Love is compelled to weep. It must grieve lest it lose the name of love. This suffering, this loss — whatever it is — is not supposed to be!
To stuff, deny, or numb away my grief is to deny the truth.
And yet. God is in the habit of resurrecting the dead! That’s what was happening! He was raising Lazarus from the dead, and setting in motion the final stages of his own journey to save the world, and resurrect us!
So my grief can become Martha’s prayer of faith: “Lord if you had been here… Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you” (John 11:22).
So we grieve, but not as those who have no hope. “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first!” (1 Thessalonians 4:13;16).
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"By any human measure, Jesus' life was an abject failure." If he ever dreamed of a successful career in ministry, or of being hailed as king, that dream died.
What about you? Which of your dreams have died? Brandon, Liv, and Matt explore a hard but hopeful truth: God is in the habit of making good things come out of death.
If your life feels like a failure, if you're stuck in a season that doesn't make sense, this one's for you. God's not done yet.
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by C.S. Lewis Official Substack
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Robert Black reflects on the popular contemporary Christian song: “Lord, Prepare Me to Be a Sanctuary.”
As a young man, it seemed obvious that his job was to make himself into a fitting sanctuary for God. But then, “in the midst of a sanctification-powered, self-improvement, and sanctuary-building plan” grace found him. In his own words, “There I was, trying to make myself into a sanctuary that was good enough for God, when God was the one creating a sanctuary in the love of Jesus, where I could find relief from the need to be “good.”
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Kristen considers the “guardedness” she feels toward God’s kindness after losing her son to cancer.
“In many ways, as these beliefs are exposed, it feels like more pain, more loss. It feels like insult to injury. Yet simultaneously, I know it is more of God’s kindness; even if that kindness doesn’t always feel good. It requires a surrendering to kindness and that feels scary.”
