Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. -Romans 5
Sitting at the bed side of a friend and sister in the Lord who is suffering from cancer and is very near deaths door is a difficult place to be. She’s a precious woman and her extreme pain and prolonged dying has been excruciating to watch and even more challenging to answer the bitter questions of those she is loved by, and have had to watch her waste away.
Deep and honest questions in cold hallways...tears and anger mixed into an emotional wine that is being forced down tender hearts throats. Who can answer such suffering? What words can be weaved to soothe the ache of a soul that is being skinned alive by the rusty edge of disease?
All I could think of was Jesus weeping before the tomb of Lazarus.
God weeping in the face of death...a strange moment indeed, considering He was about to raise His friend from the grave. Maybe those tears were your tears, my tears...the tears of all of us who won’t be able to witness such a miracle but must wait until the final resurrection.
Could He have been weeping in fellowship with all of us who will taste death’s sting, have to watch the poison of death steal away the people we love. Maybe those were the tears for those who whose faith will be shattered on the jagged rocks of tragedy.
All I know is that death caused Jesus to weep...so I can weep too, in hope of the promise that:
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain,
for the former things have passed away.
-Rev 21:4
Lord knows that there will be so many “former things” that will be worthy of “passing away”...Lord hasten the day.
1 comment:
On the one hand we are so lucky to have this coming inheritence, and we can whistle... or can we? Like you said even Jesus weeped. I think if we are aware of the state of things and the reality of the evil in this world we would weep much more. There is so much pain, it's a wonder there is laughter at all. I was talking with a Thai lady the other day who was completely unaware that there was a refugee camp about an hour from her house that has over 50,000 refugees from Burma. Talk about ignorance. She asked me if they were allowed to have children in the camp, if they somehow kept them from reproducing, you know sex and birth. Anyway, I couldn't believe what she was saying, they have been stripped of almost every blessing of home and living and this woman was hinting that they shouldn't be allowed the blessing of family. I politely explained that it's not human to keep one from having the hope of family. She agreed. My point being, we are all in a similar situation as those refugees, no one knows about us, and if it were up to them we wouldn't even be allowed the joys of our families. ~Matt
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