A few weeks ago, I had preached a sermon on the transfiguration of Jesus Christ (Mark 9:2-9). I talked about how awesome it would be to actually witness Jesus changing before the eyes of the disciples, and the additional WOW factor of Moses and Elijah showing up on the scene.

And of course, I pointed out the humorous - humanness (is that a word?) of Peter, as he tried to control this holy of holy moments by offering to put the three in tents. We always try to put God in a box don’t we?

Not to mention, by making this offer, Peter is suggesting that Jesus is on the same level as Moses and Elijah. I’m so happy that I never put someone else on the same level as Jesus or maybe even higher… yeah right.

But you know what really gets me about this story is when this huge cloud overshadows this group, and a voice comes out of the cloud saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!”
Now when I hear that voice in my head I think about what’s about to happen in the rest of this story. We know that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified on the cross…

And God knows this…

Now I don’t know what it’s like to actually lose a child. I cannot imagine it. I don’t want to imagine it. My wife and I had a miscarriage several years ago, and that was horrible! But losing a child… there can be no words…

And so I as I explained this to the congregation, knowing that there were a few families that had indeed lost a child, I stated that God certainly had to be crying when God said, “This is MY SON, the BELOVED.” I imagine God’s voice cracking. I can hear the moans, the agony the pain. I bet it was raining, since God surely had to be crying.
God’s son was about to die… would we just please take Jesus seriously? Will be please, please take notice of him? God is in agony.
Today, life just sucker punched one of the families that were seated in the sanctuary, listening to that sermon a few weeks ago. Their daughter who was three months pregnant was in a horrific auto accident this morning. She left behind a little boy and a loving husband. Her grandfather was seated next to his son.

It doesn’t make sense. These are times when our faith is challenged. We don’t understand why God would allow this to happen? Why does this happen to one family and not the other?
But what we do know is this…

God knows the pain and the agony of losing a child too. I don’t know if there is comfort in that, but maybe it brings our hearts closer to God knowing that God can relate to that kind of pain…

So let's all pray for the family-- her husband and small child, for her parents, her brother, her grandfather, pray for her parent's church and for this young woman's church. In doing so, we are somehow mysteriously connected, we are unified through Christ Jesus. Our tears are their tears, their tears are God's tears.