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Jesus Laments

There is a time for everything ... a time to weep ...Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 NIV

There are times when a positive attitude may not be the right approach. Culture may convince us of the need to remain constantly positive, to push down our bad thoughts and focus on the good—but should our words and feelings be only positive when the cancer becomes terminal? Or the divorce is finalized? Or the child doesn’t make it? Or the violence doesn’t end?

In lament, Jesus reveals to us an attitude that can be right even though it doesn’t feel positive.

Lament is a wholehearted expression of grief or sorrow. It may not feel nice or comfortable, but it’s an appropriate response to deep and seemingly unresolvable pain. In fact, if following Jesus includes adopting the attitude He would have in each situation we face, then avoiding lament can be counterproductive to our spiritual growth.

It’s common to avoid painful feelings by distracting ourselves with entertainment, false positivity, drugs, alcohol, or even hollow religion. But sometimes the best thing we can do is lament: feel those feelings, honestly tell God and others about them, and allow God to begin to heal our pain.

Jesus laments. Jesus weeps. Perhaps the reason that John 11:35 is one of the shortest verses in the Bible is that when one of your close friends dies, there are few words to describe the right response. Jesus wept over the death of His friend Lazarus—even though He was about to raise him from the dead.

On the cross, Jesus focused on the joy set before Him, which enabled Him to have an attitude of grace and forgiveness as He forgave His executioners. And yet, in that moment, Jesus still called on His Father in lament, “Why have You forsaken me?”

God isn’t a stoic God who watches the pain of His creation impassively from up above. Jesus Himself shows that we can question God in our most painful moments. God in the flesh wept over human loss. Jesus didn’t stop trusting His Father’s love or believing in a miracle for Lazarus; He simply expressed appropriately wholehearted grief and sorrow through His tears. He lamented in times of loss and pain.

What losses or situations seem worthy of lament? How might you follow Jesus by modeling healthy lament for your friends, family, and church?

Pray: God, You are a God who weeps. A God who cares for Your creation and encourages us to mourn. Help me feel my emotions, feel my pain, and cry tears of lament. Help me trust You in the midst of these feelings, just as Jesus did. In Jesus’ name, amen.