Grief

I Timothy 2:4-5

One of the biggest gripes people have about “gods” is that they do not understand what it is like to be mortal.  They are so different in their immortality that they cannot relate to the humans they lord over.  Isn’t it interesting that a man made mythical concoction could create so much grief among a civilization because they are unrelatable.  One would think that if man was to make his own god, he would make it in his own image.  In reality the opposite is true.  The real God of creation, the one not made by men, is the one who knows what it is like to be human, and yet He is completely God. 

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“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time”

I Timothy 2:4–5

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Jesus being both God and man puts Him in the unique position of being able to relate physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually to both God and humanity.  It is for this reason that He is our mediator.  He is the middle man between God and humanity.  During His earthly ministry, He revealed God to us through the life He lived.  In heaven he represents us to God by bringing our prayers to the Father as our High Priest. 

We often associate only with the concept of sin and forgiveness.  However, it goes far beyond that.  Jesus understands what it is to be every aspect of human, except He did so without sinning.  Jesus suffered loss of loved ones and grieved over them.  Jesus understands the pain of separation and missing someone He cared about.  Jesus can empathize with us.

I recently pointed out to our church, who has suffered a lot of grief in the last few months, that God the Father and Jesus both understand the grief of separation as well.  John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”  We look at giving from the perspective of being the recipient and therefore it is a gain.  However, from God’s perspective, giving was a loss.  Though the world gained Jesus, He lost Jesus (for a time).  

In that same giving, Jesus lost the Father.  This is why He cried out on the cross, “My God! My God! Why have you forsake me?”.  For the first time in all of eternity (and the only time) Jesus was separated from His Father.  It grieved Him that in His greatest time of need, He was cut off from the Father.  He suffered that separation so that we do not have to.

Unlike the “gods” that civilizations have been so frustrated with, we have a God who relates to us in our suffering and weakness. When Jesus takes our prayers for comfort, peace, and mercy to God, it is not a cold and emotionless transaction.  He can say to His Father, “I know what they are going through”.  

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote one of his most famous poems in the midst of grief.  A son was severely wounded, his wife had died, he had been severely burned, and the U.S. was torn apart by the civil war.  He wrote: 

“And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth," I said;

    "For hate is strong,

    And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Doesn’t that catch the way we feel in our grief?  It feels as though all the world is wrong.  However, Longfellow did not end his poem there.  He went on to say:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

    The Wrong shall fail,

    The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men."

God is not dead, and He does not sleep.  He sees us.  He understands us.  He empathizes with us.  He accomplishes His good and holy will through us.

Father, we are so thankful that You, in Your infinite wisdom chose to become man to redeem us.  In Your becoming man, You also proved that You can relate to us in our suffering.  How wonderful to know we have a God who understands our weaknesses.