SUFFERING OF THE BROKEN HEART
By Erwin Bourne—August 23, 2002

If you have ever been betrayed by a friend, you know
what I mean.  If you have ever been dumped by a spouse
or abandoned by a parent, your sun has been eclipsed
and darkness beckoned.  If you have ever placed a
spade of dirt on a loved one’s casket or kept vigil at
a dear one’s bedside, then you know the suffering of
the broken heart.  Depression, discouragement, doubt
and disappointment…all are companions of the broken
heart.

Go with me to witness what was perhaps the darkest
night in history.  The scene is very simple; you’ll
recognize it quickly.  A grove of twisted olive trees.
Ground cluttered with large rocks.  A low, stone
fence.  A dark night.  Now, look into the picture.
Look through the shadowy foliage.  See that solitary
figure flat on the ground?  Face stained with dirt and
tears.  Fists pounding the hard earth.  Eyes wide with
a stupor of fear.  Is that blood on his forehead?
That’s Jesus.  Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Maybe you’ve seen the classic portrait of Christ in
the garden.  Kneeling beside a big rock.  Snow-white
robe.  Hands peacefully folded in prayer.  A look of
serenity on his face.  Halo over his head.  A
spotlight from heaven illuminating his golden-brown
hair.  The man who painted that picture didn’t use the
gospel of Mark as a pattern.

Look at what Mark wrote about that painful night.
“Horror and dismay came over him.”  “My heart is ready to break with grief.”  “He threw himself on the
ground, and prayed.”   Does this look like the picture
of a saintly Jesus resting in the palm of God?  Mark
used black paint to describe this scene.   And the
next time you wonder if God really perceives the pain
that prevails on this planet, listen to him pleading
amongst the twisted trees.

God was never more human than at this hour.  God was
never nearer to us than when he hurt.  The incarnation
was never so fulfilled as in the garden.  It could be
that God’s greatest gift is the hour of pain.  The
hour of pain when we finally see our Maker.  If it is
true that in suffering God is most like man, maybe in
our suffering we can see God as never before.  Watch
closely.  It could very well be that the hand that
extends to you in your suffering is a pierced one.


Inspired by Max Lucado
Edited by Erwin Bourne
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