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Text: Mark 14:32-36
Experiencing Grief Like Jesus Did
Introduction:
Many times, we strive for spiritual growth and discipleship and
neglect the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual
components of who we are. Mark 12:30 Love the Lord with all
your heart (emotions), soul (spirit), mind (intellect) and
strength (physical). Secondly we are to love our neighbors
(social) as ourselves.
For
one who is experiencing emotions contrary to “hope” and joy”
they are sometimes seen as unspiritual, unfaithful, or worse
sinful.
In
a thought from The Cry of the Soul emotions ignoring
emotions are described in this way:
Ignoring our emotions is turning our back on
reality; listening to our emotions ushers us into reality. And
reality is where we meet God. We often turn a deaf ear – through
emotional denial, distortion, or disengagement. We strain out
anything disturbing in order to gain control of our inner world.
We are frightened and ashamed of what leaks into our conscious.
In neglecting our intense emotions, we are false to ourselves
and lose a wonderful opportunity to know God. We forget that
change comes through brutal honesty and vulnerability before
God.
Jesus who was entirely God was also entirely human and we can
learn a lot but engaging in a study of His emotions. Today we
will focus on Mark 14 starting at verse 32 to see how He
grieved.
Mark 14:32-36
What emotional experience was He having at this point?
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He was distressed – overwhelmed, intense emotional state
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He was troubled – in anxiety
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In Luke 22:44, In agony, His sweat became like drops of
blood falling to the ground – enormous stress
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My soul is deeply grieved
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The Message says “He plunged
into a sinkhole of dreadful agony.”
How
He included others
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Jesus first included others in His pain – He told them
what He was feeling – He didn’t hide it! The Message says “"I
feel bad enough right now to die. Stay here and keep vigil with
me."
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If you are experiencing pain or grief, invite others to
come along side you
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He also gave great advice to all of us who are with
someone in pain…just remain (be with) and by implication in
verse 38 watching and praying is tied in together
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Often times the only words that will be remembered in
times of grief are phrases that sound spiritually mature but are
really emotionally shallow.
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My mother had a child who died just a few hours old and
one of the comments made was “God must have needed another angel
in heaven”…she still is angered by that comment many years
later.
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Other comments made that are not good to make
You’ll see him again God won’t give you anything
you can’t handle
Just give it time Be grateful for the time you had with
them I know how you feel
He
also dialogued with His Father
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The Message says "Papa,
Father, you can - can't you? - get me out of this. Take this cup
away from me. But please, not what I want - what do you want?"
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Abba – so personally intimate form of Aramaic for Father
that the Hebrews didn’t use this word because they thought it
disrespectful
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So many thoughts – thoughts of His mother, His disciples
(3 years of traveling with them), the women and men that He had
experienced (Lazarus, the woman at the well, the woman caught in
adultery, the soldier under authority)
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Thoughts of what was to come – the pain and torture, the
separation from His Father, thoughts of His character, holy in
nature, being marred with the sins of the world
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All things are possible for you yet I submit myself to
your will. Not what I want but what you want.
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It was the intimate communion with His Father that
allowed Him to embrace this time. This time is often referred to
by some as a cup of suffering.
We
all have our own cups to drink out of.
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What is this cup? It is our cup of life.
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Though the sorrow and pain were there and the joy of a
relationship restored was also there.
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Likewise we have our own cups of life to embrace filled
with sorrow and joy. It cannot be separated into two separate
cups.
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It is in that place in which we acknowledge reality and
allow Abba to send the Comforter.
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My pain allows me to help experience someone else’s and
also allows me to be open and transparent. Not only
acknowledging our sorrows will allow us to know God more
intimately but it will also allow us to connect with each other
in community. In every situation there are three stories at
work…God’s the other person’s, and yours, intersecting at this
point and time.
The
strength comes from knowing God
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Jesus came that we can have eternal life (John 3:16)
Eternal life though is not just a future life after we die but
is a life of knowing God and Christ (John 17:3).
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When you know God you don’t need to know why. A Nazi
concentration camp inmate breathed these words.
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Truly knowing God allows us to be open with each other
and with Him about being honest what we are going through.
Conclusion
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Several months ago I took an inventory which rated me as
a emotional infant in embracing grieving and loss. Since then I
have been learning through a program at the hospital how to
begin to do this.
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The emotionally healthy church says “In emotionally
healthy churches, people embrace grief as a way to become more
like God. They understand what a critical component of
discipleship grieving our losses is. Why? It is the only pathway
to becoming a compassionate person like our Lord Jesus.”
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It goes on to say Loss will transform us or destroy us
but never leaves us the same…Loss can make us more, and sorrow
us good for the soul. The soul is elastic and can grow larger
through suffering.”
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I invite you as I know I still have a huge lesson left to
learn myself to begin reflecting upon your loss and grieving,
inviting others in, and embracing the cup which God has given
you.
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