Grief
Drawing by Gustave Doré from Wikipedia
Savor the Story Series
Appreciating the stories in the Bible involves more than critical study. In this series of occasional posts, Gordon Raynal engages Bible stories as works of literature to enjoy. He invites a playful and imaginative approach to the stories. Not assuming that the Bible is literal fact can free creativity in hearing and interacting with its stories. Rev. Raynal is a retired religious leader well read in critical scholarship with a lifelong engagement with Bible stories. This series will offer examples of how we can allow biblical stories to engage our imaginations in a deeper appreciation of biblical texts.
Facing the Darkness Part Two: Grief
The Bible’s rich opening shows us the highs and lows of what it means to be human. The beauty of love and joyful living in Genesis 1 and 2 quickly give way to the ugliness of life as seen in Genesis 3 to 11. In these stories we see the ugliness that all of us know well. The garden of Eden is lost, Cain murders Abel, a devastating great flood occurs, and the nations are divided at the Tower of Babel. The opening of Genesis gives us a drama to explore pain and trauma, which leads to the reality of grief.
We are confronted with loss in a world that can be so beautiful and filled with the joy of sweet tenderness. The Bible does not hide from pain; it even dedicates two books to the subject. Lamentations and Job confront grief using poems and dramatic stories to deal with this ugliness. Historical-critical study, philosophy, theology, and ethics provide ways of confronting grief, but the literary reading of the Bible gives us another avenue to deal with the inevitability of grief.
Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
The book of Job is a commentary on the question all of us ask: Why do bad things happen to good people? This question has been the subject of profound intellectual thinking. Job takes us beyond thinking about grief intellectually and invites readers to feel grief, to explore profound sadness, and to face those feelings by paying attention to the creativity and enduring wisdom that surrounds us.
Job is a protagonist in a place of extraordinary pain and grief. God allows Job to lose his children, his livelihood, and his health (Job 1–2). All of us face such loss in our lives, and Job invites us to that painful place to find sympathy and empathy. However, Job’s story is about more than seeing the world from within grief; it is about what is true beyond grief. Chapter 28 reminds us of the importance of wisdom amid grief:
“Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
It is hidden from the eyes of all living
and concealed from the birds of the air.
Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
“God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place. (Job 28:20–22, NRSVUE*)
Job is a creativity story that is all about finding perspective in the midst of grief and beyond.
Why has Job been called the oldest story in the world? Because every day comes to an end. Times and seasons of life come to an end. All lives of every species come to an end. All that humans build comes to an end. Grief comes with all endings and dealing with grief is must. Job, Lamentations, many Psalms, and several stories about Jesus invite us to face the tender and painful subject of grief. These creativity narratives point outward to the great works of literature and the arts that call us to face this haunting part of living. Metaphorically, the story of the amazing wonder of creation and the splendid joy of intimate love are the oldest stories. Stories of grief come after this because the world is always changing and nothing is permanent. Job and other grief writings affirm that loss and grief are neither the only stories, nor are they final. Reading Job and other great stories about grief takes us beyond grief.
*New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Using great works like the Bible to confront the darkness of life is an important resource to find the power of love refreshed in our lives.