Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Grief & Loss
No. Paul expects believers to grieve; he only insists we do not grieve 'like the rest, who have no hope.' Jesus wept at a tomb He was minutes from emptying. Psalm 88 stays dark to its last line and is still inspired prayer. Hope does not shorten grief; it changes where grief ends.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/is-it-wrong-to-grieve · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
John 11:17-45
As you read: How long Jesus waits, how plainly Martha and Mary both say what they think, and the shortest verse in your Bible.
17So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.
18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.
19Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.
20Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.
21Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.
22Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
26Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”
28When she had said this, she went away, and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here, and is calling you.”
29When she heard this, she arose quickly, and went to him.
30Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him.
31Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”
32Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
35Jesus wept.
36The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!”
37Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”
38Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”
41So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me.
42I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude that stands around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Free him, and let him go.”
45Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.
Psalms 88
As you read: Every line addressed to Yahweh anyway: cries day and night, questions with no answer, and an ending that stays in darkness.
1Yahweh, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you.
2Let my prayer enter into your presence. Turn your ear to my cry.
3For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol.
4I am counted among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help,
5set apart among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your hand.
6You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.
7Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah.
8You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape.
9My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you.
10Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah.
11Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction?
12Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13But to you, Yahweh, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you.
14Yahweh, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?
15I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.
16Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off.
17They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me.
18You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
As you read: Paul's exact instruction about those who have fallen asleep, and where he aims our comfort.
13But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
15For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left to the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep.
16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,
17then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.
18Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Paul does not write, do not grieve. He writes that we should not 'grieve like the rest, who have no hope.' The sentence only makes sense because grieving remains. What hope changes is not whether tears fall but what they mean and where they lead; Christian grief is sorrow walking toward morning.
“But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope.”1 Thessalonians 4:13
Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus; He had said so before He arrived. Yet standing at the grave He 'groaned in the spirit, and was troubled', and then came the shortest verse: 'Jesus wept.' The bystanders drew the right conclusion from those tears: 'See how much affection he had for him!' Weeping at a funeral is not unbelief, even from someone holding resurrection power.
“Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!””John 11:32-36
Psalm 88 opens by naming its addressee: 'Yahweh, the God of my salvation.' Almost everything after that is complaint, cried day and night, asking why God hides His face, and it ends in darkness with no resolution. Heman's psalm made the canon anyway. That means lament is not a failure of faith; it is a form of it.
“Yahweh, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you. Let my prayer enter into your presence. Turn your ear to my cry. For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol.”Psalms 88:1-3
“But to you, Yahweh, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you. Yahweh, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?”Psalms 88:13-14
“You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.”Psalms 88:18
Paul ends the passage with a command: 'Therefore comfort one another with these words.' The words are about the dead being with Christ and rising again. Notice the direction of travel: comfort comes from speaking resurrection truth to each other while the tears are still wet, not from pretending they are already dry.
“Therefore comfort one another with these words.”1 Thessalonians 4:18