Editor's note: Enjoy today's devotion adapted from Relaxed by Megan Fate Marshman. And, please join us for the Relaxed Online Bible study starting April 20th. Grab a friend and sign up today!
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The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. — Psalm 34:18 NIV
In the months after my husband Randy died, I was handed Psalm 34:18 more times than I can remember. I clung to that verse. And I realized this: it’s not just that God’s nearness brings comfort. He’s not just “near.” He is grieving too.
My favorite person to grieve with was my sister; when I grieved, she grieved too. Likewise,
as we grieve, we join God in His grief.
When you talk about grief with God, you’re talking to someone who understands and is well acquainted with it (Isa. 53:3). One of Jesus’ epithets in the books of prophecy is “man of sorrows” (Isa. 53:3 ESV). In John 11, Jesus’ deep grief is on display. His friend Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, is gravely ill. The sisters send Jesus a message:
Lord, the one You love is sick. — v. 3
He waits for days before arriving in their town of Bethany. He isn’t far. But He does wait. While He waits, Lazarus dies. And, understandably, the sisters don’t understand.
If You had been here, my brother would not have died, Martha tells Him. — v. 21
Mary waits to come see Him until He asks for her. She falls at His feet and says the same thing: Where were you? I don’t know what Mary’s tone of voice was like, but I know what mine was like when I asked Him the same question.
Jesus asks to see where they laid His friend. He’s taken there, and then He weeps. Did you ever memorize John 11:35, the shortest verse in the Bible?
Jesus wept.
I used to wonder why He cried. Why cry when you know what’s going to happen? He grieved before He raised Lazarus. He could’ve raised him upon arrival, in those moments with his sisters, and bypassed the pain of grief. But He knew we would need a tool for the moment we faced death on this earth. He had the power to raise His friend right then and there, but instead of taking a shortcut away from tears, Jesus modeled for us what to do when you face death: grieve.
Jesus, who never sinned, grieved because there’s nothing wrong with grief.
He was perfect, mature, full of faith and hope and love, and He grieved. I’m struck by the range of emotion we see from Jesus in His grief. When John says that Jesus was “deeply moved” (v. 33), the word there means angry, like enraged. It’s not just that Jesus was sad but that He, too, felt deeply the wrongness of death. He was practiced in grief. He could face it without flinching. He could let Himself weep. This prepared Him for the depth of sorrow He experienced in His passion. In the garden of Gethsemane, He grieved. In Matthew 26:38, He said,
My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.
Luke 22:44 says,
And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
On the cross, He lamented in the words of the psalmist:
My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? — Matthew 27:46
Jesus grieved deeply because He loves deeply, and He invites us to grieve deeply, too. His grief and our grief are expressions of hope.
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Written by Megan Fate Marshman, author of Relaxed, copyright Megan Fate Marshman.
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Your Turn
There’s nothing wrong with grief. If you are in a season of bereavement, Jesus understands. He weeps with you like Megan’s sister wept with her. In grieving, we leave room for hope! Join us for the Relaxed Online Bible Study starting April 20th. Grab a friend and sign up today! ~ Devotionals Daily
