Because suffering and death are not symbolic. What good is a symbolic, metaphorical hope for those in real, physical pain?
We do not suffer as those with no hope precisely because we hope in the sufferings of Christ committed on our behalf.
I love this quote from Geerhardus Vos:
“What the Lord expects from us at such seasons is not to abandon ourselves to unreasoning sorrow, but trustingly to look sorrow in the face, to scan its features, to search for the help and hope, which, as surely as God is our Father, must be there. In such trials there can be no comfort for us so long as we stand outside weeping.
If only we will take the courage to fix our gaze deliberately upon the stern countenance of grief, and enter unafraid into the darkest recesses of our trouble, we shall find the terror gone, because the Lord has been there before us, and, coming out again, has left the place transfigured, making of it by the grace of his resurrection a house of life, the very gate of heaven.”
Press in. Jesus wept.
2 comments:
Outstanding Jared - mind if I rip this off from you?
Well, I only contributed a handful of words to it -- Vos is the centerpiece -- but of course. It'd be my honor.
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