Longing with Lament and TBI: Holy Week and Beyond

Last updated on: April 10, 2022 at 11:57 am by Paul Louis Metzger

Longing with Lament and TBI: Holy Week and Beyond 2022-04-10T11:57:17-07:00 Paul Louis Metzger

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Triumphal Entry (Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry}, Folio 173v; The Musée Condé, Chantilly); Wikimedia {{PD-US-expired}}

Longing with lament marks so much of life. Take for example the Christian story. Today is Palm Sunday, which marks Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the long-awaited king and deliverer (See Matthew 21). The people welcomed him with shouts of joy. By Friday, he would be dead. They sensed such longing for peace and freedom, but the fulfilment of their hopes was dashed or delayed.

It’s a comfort to know the story does not end there. According to the New Testament story, Jesus rose victorious from the dead the following Sunday. Later he ascended to God’s right hand and the Spirit descended to be among Jesus’ followers to encourage and empower them to live victoriously until Jesus’ return. Jesus did not promise to keep them from suffering but strengthen them amid suffering until his return. On the night of his betrayal and trial, he declared: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33; NIV).

Jesus’ words keep me going during Holy Week and beyond. They help me as we continue to support my son Christopher, who suffers from TBI, along with his family. We experience moments of stimulation, when he is responsive to prompts in his minimally conscious state. But those moments are far from satisfactory. We are left longing for so much more than the blinking of an eye, raising of a thumb, and moving of an arm in response to prompts.

Longing with lament marks our cycle of life with TBI. It’s not just with TBI, though. I experience longing with lament in my work and relationships, too. Yes, there’s stimulation, but not sufficient satisfaction. Maybe you feel the same way?

Longing and lament marks so many other people’s lives no matter their circumstances. Longing and lament also marks Holy Week, which brings together Palm Sunday and the close of Lent, which leads up to Jesus’ passion and death.

C.S. Lewis speaks about longing for satisfaction, and yet never experiencing it in this world. Lewis argues that the recognition nothing in this world can satisfy my desires signifies that we were made for another land. According to “The Christian Way,”

Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Touchstone: New York, 1996, pp. 120-121).

I’m longing for satisfaction, for more than the blinking of my son’s eyes in response to prompts. I’m longing for my son to rise from his bed made whole. I desire more peace amid turbulence, more freedom from pain for Christopher and myself. My back hurts as I move his limbs. It’s exhausting, tireless work. But still, I will enter my son’s facility and room today triumphantly and say out loud, as I exercise his arms and legs: in this world we will have trouble. But take heart! Jesus has overcome the world.

I long for the deliverance Jesus brings. Still, I know that lament involving suffering and death precede the resurrection. Yes, there’s stimulation, but not enough satisfaction. Perhaps I will never experience such satisfaction until the moment history draws to a close: ““in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52; NIV).

I’ll mingle longing and lament until that day when God makes all things new. I’ll hold fast to Jesus’ words that he uttered on the eve of his passion: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33; NIV).

Uncategorized

About Paul Louis Metzger

Paul Louis Metzger, Ph.D., is Professor of Theology & Culture, Multnomah University & Seminary; Director of The Institute for Cultural Engagement: New Wine, New Wineskins; and Author and Editor of numerous works, including Setting the Spiritual Clock: Sacred Time Breaking Through the Secular Eclipse. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

April 3, 2022

Hit the Pause Button: On Feeding Conflicts

Next Post

April 15, 2022 Good Friday and Good Pain

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz