Raging Bull
One of the best sermons I ever heard was on the passage where Lazarus dies and Jesus gets there too late to prevent it. Everyone is mourning. Martha and Mary question Jesus. And Jesus mourns with them. This is the passage where we get, "Jesus wept."
My pastor told us that the verse, "Jesus wept" is a woefully inept translation. The word we read as "wept" actually means... literally... "snorted." As in rage. Like a bull when he's angry and ready to charge.
I love this picture of Jesus, angry at death, angry at loss, angry that the world He created, so perfect, had been so tainted. Angry that we, His children, must endure the pain of grief.
I need this picture of Jesus right now. A family in my homeschool group lost their 2 1/2 year old son yesterday. He drowned in a friend's pool.
I have no doubt that my friend's son is with Jesus. But I also believe Jesus is with my friend, too. Snorting.
My pastor told us that the verse, "Jesus wept" is a woefully inept translation. The word we read as "wept" actually means... literally... "snorted." As in rage. Like a bull when he's angry and ready to charge.
I love this picture of Jesus, angry at death, angry at loss, angry that the world He created, so perfect, had been so tainted. Angry that we, His children, must endure the pain of grief.
I need this picture of Jesus right now. A family in my homeschool group lost their 2 1/2 year old son yesterday. He drowned in a friend's pool.
I have no doubt that my friend's son is with Jesus. But I also believe Jesus is with my friend, too. Snorting.
posted by Mamabird @ 5:46 AM
5 Comments:
At 10:08 AM,
Patty in WA or Rover said…
I'm doing a little snorting myself.
I'm so sorry for your friends. What immense sadness must shroud their hearts.
They aren't alone in it but they bear the most of it.
At 10:57 AM,
Dy said…
I had no idea that was the jist of the translation. What a different picture it paints of our Lord, our comforter and protector.
I am so sorry for the pain and loss that seems to be running rampant in your life. My heart just breaks when I hear of these things.
Dy
At 1:25 PM,
Melora said…
Please accept my sympathy for you and your friends on your agonizing loss. It must be almost too much to bear. When my daughter was around that age, we were in a friend's pool, and I turned my head away from watching her for a minute to speak to my husband. When I turned back, she had gone under, silently. We were lucky, and she was unhurt, but it can happen so quickly.
I hadn't heard that translation before, but I like it. It makes more sense to me, that our loving God would be angry and torn over the pain of his beloved creation, than that these things are part of his "design."
With sympathy,
Melora
At 8:35 PM,
Mamabird said…
Thank you, kind friends. My heart is just broken and heavy all over again, and it helps to share it in writing.
Melora, thank you for commenting - your comment led me to your blog and it was so enjoyable! The picture of your son stuck in the garbage can made me grin. That's the kind of thing my middle son is ALWAYS doing.
Patty, thanks for the fellow snort.
Dy, your blog is making me so happy these days. I love how much you love and cherish your kids.
Sigh. Sanity will return, soon.
At 10:58 AM,
Anonymous said…
Oh, oh, oh! I'm just crying over here. My own "baby bird" is so very tiny and just imagining what these parents must feel makes my mind, my body, my whole being ache. We just took her swimming for the first time over the weekend and these thoughts crossed my mind. I will be praying for your friend's family.
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