A Parable of Hope & Healing

“Lord, Your Bride, the one You love, is sick.”

The sisters Grace and Truth had urged the messenger forward; hastening to the Master’s side, he gasped out the devastating news.

Lord, the one You love is sick!

The Master did not appear startled or shocked by the news; He well knew the condition of His Beloved. He had seen her struggles, her angst. He watched as she had scorned her purity, prostituting herself to attract the World. He witnessed her growing bitterness, felt the full force of her betrayal; He absorbed the sting as she turned her back on Him to chase after the wind.

“This sickness will not end in death,” He replied. “No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

Jesus loved the Church, His Bride; He loved the sisters Grace and Truth. It was for this very reason He waited.

And then, in the fullness of time, He said, “Let us go back to her.”

His disciples did not understand. “After all that’s happened, Lord? After all she’s done?! You would take her back now? Surely not, Lord!”

“My Beloved sleeps,” Jesus told them, “But I am heading now to wake her up.”

And so they started on their way. When they arrived at the place His Bride had been, they found that life had left her.

“Lord,” Truth scolded Him, “Did You not see what Your Bride was doing? How far astray she’d wandered? It grieves me to tell You this, but she had forsaken her First Love! If You had only shown Yourself more clearly, she would not have forgotten the Truth. If You had been here, she would still be alive!”

Jesus looked at Truth. He saw her heart, heard her distress. He knew she was anxious and upset about many things, and He spoke to her need.

“I Am the Resurrection and the Life,” He said. “Anyone who believes in Me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Truth was humbled. Truly, she had only wanted to defend the Master out of her great love for Him. In her zeal, she forgot that when she attacked His Beloved, she placed herself between them. She had wounded the Lord, for He and His Beloved are one.

“Yes, Lord,” she told Him, her words awash in repentance, “I believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

I believe You are sovereign, wise, and good; in my passion, I had lost sight of Yours. Forgive me.

His “Go in peace,” echoing in her heart, she ran to find her sister. “The Master is here, and He’s asking for you.”

At this news, Grace dropped everything and ran to the Master.

When she reached the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and cried, “Lord, if You had been here, Your Beloved would not have died!” She cried out for You, did You not hear her? Why did You not come to bind her wounds? She was broken and betrayed by the World, and You were not here; You did not heal her. The ache and accusation welled up from deep within the heart of Grace; her compassion bled out at His feet.

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the tears of those with her, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled by their cries. He saw they did not yet trust Him.

“What have you done with her?” He asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus wept.

Watching Him, they said, “Oh, how He loves!”

But some said, “If He is so great, could He not have prevented this? All this pain, all this suffering? The self-righteousness and hypocrisy, not to mention terror and violence and death … Surely, if He is God, such evil would not be allowed to continue!”

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb of His Beloved.

“Take away the stone,” He said.

“But Lord,” Truth intervened, “It’s really quite a mess in there. The stench of death lingers over her; she is torn and broken. Are You sure You want to see Your Bride this way?”

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

So Truth and Grace took away the stone.

Then Jesus looked up and prayed, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of those who listen, that all may believe that You sent Me.”

When He had prayed, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Beloved, come forth!”