Shared pain

Mary arrived where Jesus was, and as soon as she saw him, she fell at his feet. ‘Lord’, she said, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died!’

Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved. ‘Where have you buried him?’  he asked them.

‘Come and see, Lord’, they answered.

Jesus wept.  (verses 32-35)

Read John 11:28-44

I’d guess that there are times in all our lives when we feel that God is as remote from us as Mars is from earth. Where is God, we wonder, in the middle of a particularly trying sickness. Where is he when a relationship lurches from bad to worse? Doesn’t he know about the pain I feel?

God not only knows your pain, he cares so much about you that he shares your pain with you.

When Lazarus died, Jesus was no aloof bystander. He hurt with the mourners. He shared their sense of loss. He cried with them.

Jesus hasn’t changed. He still comes to where people are hurting, to share the pain with them.

In your times of pain remember that this Jesus who went through such physical, emotional and spiritual pain on the cross for your welfare is not about to leave you stranded and struggling on your own now.

Holy Spirit, assure me in my difficult times that Jesus is really with me, supporting me and sharing the load. Amen.

by Grace Simpson, in ‘New Strength for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1998)

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