This week we turn the page from a focus on our own personal pain to how God wants to use it redemptively to build his Kingdom.
As he was beginning his ministry (Luke 4:18-19), Jesus defined what his ministry (and, as his disciples, ours too) would look like citing Isaiah 61:1-3. Here is what it says and my interpretation of what he means in saying these words. Today, we focus on the ministry of comfort.
The Spirit of God is on me because the Lord has anointed me…
The Holy Spirit has come in power. I am equipped for specific ministry.
…To bind up the brokenhearted,
A group of people is targeted. I am to bring hope to those who have lost theirs.
I am to encourage the disappointed, to bring emotional healing where pain throbs.
…To comfort all who mourn.
To bring the consolation and encouragement of God to those who have experienced loss. All this shows that proclamation alone is inadequate. It must be accompanied by action.
Something about grief is intensely personal. It is your loss, your pain; they are your tears. Some of us are so overwhelmed by our grief that we retreat over the moat surrounding our lives, pull up the drawbridge, and live in some isolated place inside where no one can touch us.
In general, non-expressive people struggle more with grief. The ancient Hebrews helped those who were grieving by giving ritual expressions to those who had suffered loss.
Feel like all your joy has been burned up? Throw ashes on yourself to represent it. Feel like you’re raw and numb at the same time? Go poke some holes in a burlap sack and then wear it as an outward signal of what’s going on inside you.
Sometimes the best comfort is just the ministry of presence. Job’s friends are known for inappropriately philosophizing in a time that called for mourning, but their first instinct was their best. They sat down next to Job, put ashes on their heads, wept aloud, and didn’t say anything for a week.
When death comes like this, that’s what you do – sit there and cry. Often, the best response is not words, but empathy expressed in presence.
And along the way, sometimes God gives you his words, words that show he too has the ministry of presence.
Application
What is God saying to you?
