Grief and Joy

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

GRIEF AND JOY

Matt 17:22-23

22 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. 23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief.

NIV

We know that his disciples knew that he was the Messiah, but from what we learn from the Acts of the Apostles is that even after Jesus had been raised from the dead, and appeared to many over a forty-day period and that his disciples asked him if now was the time that he was going to restore the kingdom of Israel. So we know when Jesus told his disciples this truth of what must take place, of course, they were filled with grief. We cannot be sure, but it makes sense they did not understand about Jesus coming back from the dead. If we understand the Greek word Jesus used, it is not as this translation makes it. The Greek word simply means to arise, to awaken from sleep, or can also mean awaken from the dead. The more wooden translation is through the idea of collecting one's facilities. We could see this as Jesus saying that he was going to be handed over to his enemies and they would kill him and in three days he would collect his facilities, he was awakened, which in essence means he will raise to life. Still, they did not understand and all they knew or understood was they were going to be without him. Of course, we have perfect hindsight and know he had to go to the cross to redeem us, to pay the price for our sin, so that we could be restored to our original position with God, being in his paradise as immortal beings. When we accept Jesus and become born again, we are no longer a child of Adam, the first man, who disobeyed God and lost his immortality, being cast from the garden. Now we have been adopted into the family of God and have the right to be called children of God, and are now living under the rules of the new creation, and we will set aside our mortality and put on immortality, also setting aside our perishable bodies and putting on an imperishable body. This happens just as it did with Jesus, as we die, we will be raised in the same glorified state as Jesus was. There is no reason for us to grieve like his disciples because we understand. However, that does not mean we should not have grief because Jesus had to suffer a terrible experience because of us. He was beaten, humiliated, spit on, whipped until his skin was ripped open and then, not just tied to a cross, but nailed to the cross, a horrible and heinous way to be treated. Yet, he did allow all that to happen because he loves us. We should be filled with grief, but at the same time, we can be filled with joy, because we know Jesus lives, and so will we. These feelings are expressed more openly as we visit Good Friday, and Easter Sunday morning, Grief and Joy.