In the valley… of the darkness….of loss…fear not.

Today’s gospel tells two heartbreaking stories, of a man losing a loved one (his daughter), and of a woman losing her health.  These are two terrible losses, the most feared by humans. But the gospel does not stop there; it also tells us how their willingness to journey into the darkness of their losses brings them to Jesus Christ, the Source of Eternal Life, the Son of  God  who is Alive, Aware, Trustworthy, “God who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities” (Heb. 4:15). 

Without explaining the mystery of suffering or reconciling the pain, Jesus reminded these people that His power and wisdom were infinitely beyond theirs.  The solution to our suffering and the doubts it raises is not found in argument, but in learning to rest in God’s arms and to trust in his power, even when suffering is mysterious and unbearable. 

Here is the main question for this week: how do we respond to our losses?  With fatalism? Realism?  Doubts?  Faith?  A combination?

The death of our relations should drive us into God’s gracious arms and not away from Him.