What does the Bible say about grief?

The Bible passages below can be used in sermons, prayers, pastoral care, or worship planning focused on grief.

Synonyms

There is a constellation of terms in Greek and Hebrew that are used interchangeably for grief. They include mourning, pain, and suffering. For example, in the classic rendering of Isaiah 53:3, the suffering servant is "acquainted with grief." However, several newer translations use the word suffering or pain. The Beatitude in Matthew 5:4 is nearly universally translated "Blessed are those who mourn." Nevertheless, the meaning of all these words seems quite similar: they all point to the experience of loss.

Grief because of death and sin

• The Bible includes numerous instances where people mourn for those who have died (Genesis 23:2, 1 Samuel 16:1).
• In other cases they experience grief as a result of sin (Numbers 14:39, Isaiah 61:3, James 4:9).
• Because of his true humanity, Jesus is pictured as one capable of grief and sadness. As depicted in Isaiah 53, the suffering, sorrowing servant is acquainted with grief (pain, suffering, infirmity).
• And at the grave of Lazarus (John 11), we see Jesus in tears, conveying both grief and anger at the icy grip of death. His agitation and tears seem to be stimulated by his empathy with the grief and pain of Mary, Martha, and the other mourners (John 11:33).
• The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) describe the upside-down reality of the kingdom of God, in which experiences usually classified as bad are depicted as blessed. So also, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." In the kingdom, the experience of loss and grief is blessed because it will lead to the comfort and joy of salvation when we walk through it with the Lord.
• In 1 Thessalonians 4:13, Paul comforts people who have lost those near and dear to them by calling them to mourn, but not as those "who have no hope." He implies that the mourning itself is good when it is accompanied by the hope of resurrection.
• In Luke 6:25, Jesus rebukes those who "are laughing now" for they "will mourn and weep." When we refuse to enter into the grief of sin and death, we will discover that mourning is the only way to the liberating joy of the gospel.

Sermon ideas about grief

A sermon on grief can acknowledge that death is not the only cause of grief. Practically any loss — whether of status, money, friendship, health, or hopes and dreams — can trigger the very same feelings with the same intensity.

Granger Westberg first published the groundbreaking book Good Grief: A Companion for Every Loss more than fifty years ago. It caused a sea change in the understanding of the psychology of grief from a Christian perspective. Westberg emphasized that grief is a good and necessary response to the universal experience of loss, and we should enter into its pain. If grief is avoided, the pain of loss only turns into something more destructive, such as anger or despair.

There is no way around grief in our broken world, but there is a way through it. These quotes illuminate this concept:

• "We rejoice in spite of our grief, not in place of it." (Woodrow Kroll, Back to the Bible)
• "We are imperfect mortal beings, aware of that mortality even as we push it away, failed by our very complication, so wired that when we mourn our losses we also mourn, for better or for worse, ourselves. As we were. As we are no longer. As we will one day not be at all." (Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking)
• "The depth of the feeling continued to surprise and threaten me, but each time it hit again and I bore it . . . I would discover that it hadn't washed me away." (Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies)

Excerpts about grief

Following are sample excerpts from Zeteosearch sermon resources about grief:

• "We should grieve the loss of a loved one, a job, or a dream disappointed. But we can also, in the same moment, look in hope to a God who loves us and grieves with us." Artwork, Scripture Meditation or Sermon by Laura Merricks from ArtWay
• "Our love for the absent often extends past the timelines created to process our grief. In a season of social isolation, in a time of trauma, sickness, and death en masse, we may feel the solemnity and sacrifice that mark the season of Lent leak into Holy Week and Eastertide. The three days that pass between Good Friday and Easter Sunday might not be enough to hold our fear, confusion, anger, and grief." Scripture Meditation or Sermon by Carolyn Beard from Earth and Altar
• "God, after all, essentially answers, 'there is a balm in Gilead.' There is a physician in God's creation's house. There is healing for God's people's wounds. God doesn't let God or God's prophets' deep grief get the final word." Sermon Illustration, Sermon Preparation by Doug Bratt from Center for Excellence in Preaching