Always before, I thought of grief in this verse as referring to low points caused by external circumstances: death, loss, disappointment. But today I was sad because of my own sin, and seeing this verse from this perspective really showed me Christ's empathy for my sorrow. He bore my grief--even the sadness I feel over my own failures and unworthiness--and He redeems me. He has taken not only the tears caused by this world but also the sweat of working out our own goodness.
And isn't this the reason He suffered separation from His Father--to bear our sorrow over sin? to stand between us and the rightful consequences of our failures?
It means so much more that He bears this grief, this sinking feeling of guilt and inertia, than that He eliminate the disappointments of a temporal existence. This world will pass away along with its many hints of hell. But my sin--my sin could drag me into that darkness forever. How lightening it feels to know my grief was taken already, that He bore it and defeated it, that through His power and mediation, I can claim victory over even myself.
Yet the grief is not bad since it shows me my need and corrects me of self-reliant goals. All my lists and checked boxes toward good mothering cannot build me up to the godly woman I need to be. It is only through surrender and submission that I can be filled with the Holy Spirit and given the power to obey Him.
Jesus Himself said in Matthew 5: "Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted."
So I mourn over my failures.
I see them burdening my Savior as He substitutes Himself for me in punishment.
I bow before His sovereignty. I repent--for my sorrows break His body and rent His soul from heaven.
And the resurrected Christ picks me up.
He breathes life into me too--life that conquers this world; life that renews, readies, and rebuilds.
He bears my griefs and carries my sorrows, and by His wounds, I am healed.
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