1    Who to Tell?

Matthew 14:
12 John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.
13 When Jesus heard about John, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. When the crowds learned this, they followed him on foot from the cities.
14 When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed those who were sick.
15 That evening . . .
22 . . . Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead to the other side of the lake while he dismissed the crowds.
23 When he sent them away, he went up onto a mountain by himself to pray. Evening came and he was alone.
(Common English Bible)

The Lord Jesus Christ was in the middle of His busy ministry when He heard that King Herod had beheaded the Prophet John the Baptiser.
Since John had always been pointing his own disciples to Jesus, these disciples came and told Jesus of their grief and outrage at John's assassination.
This was the best thing they could have done in their deep sadness over the loss of John.

There are times in life when we suffer the loss of someone we have been very close to.
This is someone who may have been a foundational person for us - like John was to his disciples.
Or this may have been a close support person or even someone who was dependent on us - like a member of our family, or close friend.

This loss may be due to death; or it may happen because of painful family separations or simply because of someone leaving to live somewhere far away.
The loss of any of these people causes our life to go out of balance for some time.
How do I cope when I experience an earthquake like this in my life?

The disciples of John had the right solution in this crisis!
After dealing with this physical aspect of the loss, they went and told their grief to the Lord Jesus. They told Him the whole story of what had happened. They got it all off their chest to Him.

Of course, they could have made a different choice.
Many people, when faced with a crisis like this, would choose to ignore its impact on their inner person and just go on living as if nothing devastating has happened.
But that is just making trouble for the future.
We need to do what these disciples of John did:   and tell our grief and rage to Jesus.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ,
I have just begun to remember periods of my life when I've had to cope with grief and sadness.
At that time, I just got on with my life as if nothing had ever happened.
But I want to tell you about these hurts now, because this will allow You to heal my inner person and make me whole again.
Thank You for showing me Your compassion by listening to me at this time.
(Tell Him your story.)    Amen