Grief is like physical therapy—primary health care to develop, maintain, and restore maximum movement and functional ability throughout the lifespan when threatened by aging, injury, disease, or environmental factors. Functional movement is central to what it means to be healthy, and it can be very painful to stretch and flex those injured areas.
Grief is also painful and to avoid that pain, we try to bury it, put it away, pretend it’s not there anymore. It’s time to get on with life. But if we don’t go through the stretching and flexing exercises of healing grief, we will move through life with a limp in our souls.
Definition of Grief: deep and poignant distress caused by or as if by bereavement, loss, or disaster.
Definition of Mourning: the act of sorrowing; an outward sign (as black clothes or an armband) of grief for a person’s death; a period of time during which signs of grief are shown.
It’s physical therapy for our souls.
How did Jesus handle grief?
- He shared his sorrow over his upcoming death with his followers in Matthew 26:27-28.
And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. Mark my words—I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.” - He expressed grief in abandonment in Mark 15:34.
Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” - Jesus wept tears in John 11:17-44.
When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept.
In her book Joy in Our Weakness, Marva Dawn talks about being drawn to God during these awful times of weakness and grief.
“Greatly to our surprise, it is not in our competency or capability that God can tabernacle among us. It is in our weakness. In our limitations, in the times when we are suffering or coming through great tribulations we can best experience Christ’s presence.
“Just as Jesus once came and tabernacled among us in the human form of His incarnation (John 1:14), and just as God will someday perfectly tabernacle among us at the last day (Revelation 7:15), even so Christ tabernacles upon us now in our weakness! When our power is brought to its finish, we will learn the sufficiency of the Triune God’s grace and the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit’s dwelling in us.”
Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their suffering. Isaiah 49:13, NLT
God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4, NLT
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Corinthians 1:4, NLT
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, Comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, NLT
Kathleen S Evenhouse 