Loss

by Timothy Howe

How lonely sits the city that was full of people!

How like a widow has she become,

She who was great among the nations!

She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave.

She weeps bitterly in the night with tears on her cheeks;

Among all her lovers she has none to comfort her;

All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;

They have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude;

She dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place;

Her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival;

All her gates are desolate; her priests groan;

Her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly.

Look, O Lord, for I am in distress; my stomach churns;

My heart is wrung within me, because I have been very rebellious.

In the street the sword bereaves; in the house it is like death.

Lamentations 1:1-4, 20 ESV

And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, 
“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,..." 

Luke 9:21-22a ESV 

Jesus' Loss

Jesus understood pain and suffering. He embraced it. He foretold His followers that He would suffer, he would be rejected and he would be killed. And He was killed in the most gruesome of fashions. Indeed, Jesus suffered loss. He suffered. He was rejected. He was killed.

Jesus' Loss Paved the Way for Our Loss

Jesus' loss was not limited to Him alone though. We share in His loss. In fact, Jesus described how He expected His followers to also suffer loss in Luke 9:23ff.          He anticipated hardship for His followers, and even instructed His followers to suffer loss. 

          He told His followers to accept loss by denying self.

          He told His followers to embrace loss by taking up our cross.

          He told His followers to properly evaluate loss for His sake.

This day of loss reminds us that He is not ignorant of your pain, your sorrows, your difficulties. 

True Loss vs. Temporary Loss

Yet, Jesus measures our pains differently than we do. He measures our problems compared with what He has in store for us for all eternity. He redeems temporal loss with eternal gain. Jesus counts what is true loss and contrasts temporal loss with eternal loss. In Luke 9:26 He explains the consequences for those unwilling to suffer loss in this world for His sake - the Son of Man will be ashamed of him!


Temporary Loss and Eternal Gain
Our lives have pains, sorrows and loss. Jesus understands them. On this Day of Loss, know that Jesus took a temporary loss and turned it into our eternal gain. 

Reflect on His Temporary Sacrifice.

Cling to His Eternal Gain.