Sunday, August 23, 2026

Scripture: John 20:17-37

Sermon Title: Inside Out: Sadness

If you have been with us these last few weeks, you know that we have been in a series called “Inside Out.” Inspired by the Disney/Pixar Movie “Inside Out,” we’ve been looking at emotions from the movie and looking at places in scripture where we see these emotions with everyday people, and even Jesus Christ himself. We began with fear and anxiety. We talked about how fear in and of itself is not a bad thing. Fear is a gift from God that keeps us safe from dangerous situations, but when fear gets out of control and turns to worry, anxiety, and lack of trust in God, it can be a problem.

Then last week we talked about anger and disgust. Again, we often think of anger as a bad thing. But righteous holy anger channeled in a good way can be a good thing. Anger that hurts others is not good. But anger against the injustices of our world is a good thing. And we should use this anger to fight against injustice in our world.

This week we’re talking about sadness. Sadness is something we often don’t want to talk about. When we’re crying, we tend to want to cover it up, so people don’t see us. But in the movie “Inside Out,” we see that sadness serves a purpose.

Here is a picture of the character Sadness in the movie “Inside Out.” Doesn’t she just embody sadness? She’s blue pretty much from her head to her toes. The color blue has come to be associated with sadness for centuries. The first recorded place we see blue associated with sadness is in the 1300s. The poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote, “With tears of blue and a wounded heart.”

Over the years we have seen artists use this color to represent sadness as well. Most famously, Pablo Picasso had a Blue Period between the years 1901-1904. These paintings were painted in mostly all shades of blue and some shades of green. It is believed that this was during a period of depression for Picasso, and maybe even was first influenced by the suicide of a friend.

Even here at Tomoka UMC and many other churches, we have a “Blue Christmas Service” in December. This is a service geared toward people who are feeling “blue” around the holidays usually due to grief. And we tend to think death when we think grief, but grief around the holidays could also be due to divorce, job loss, loneliness, you name it. Grief is not always around death. And I know that’s a few months away, but just want to remind you now, if you or someone you know is struggling during the holidays, the “Blue Christmas Service” can be a really meaningful service for those in the midst of grief.

All this to say, it makes sense that the character of Sadness is decked from head to toe in blue. And it’s interesting throughout both Inside Out and the sequel Inside Out 2, the character of Joy, who we haven’t touched on yet, but we will get to in a couple of weeks, Joy seems bothered by sadness the most.

At one point, the character of Joy has this to say about Sadness, “I’m just not sure that Sadness is supposed to be in charge of anything, because she just makes everything worse whenever she tries to help us.” – Joy, Inside Out.

Maybe you can relate to this. Maybe you too feel like sadness makes everything worse. As a pastor and just a human I can’t tell you how many times people have apologized for crying. We’re often embarrassed by crying. But as I’ve said at countless funerals, it’s ok to cry. The character of sadness has this to say about crying, “Crying is not weakness; it’s a way to tend a wounded heart.” (Sadness, Inside Out)

In our scripture today, we see from Jesus Christ himself, the Lord of the universe that it’s ok to cry. Our scripture today is a scripture that I’m sure many of us are familiar with. It’s the death of Lazarus.

Lazarus, a friend of Jesus has died. And when Jesus shows up, Jesus is greeted by Lazarus’s sisters Mary and Martha. You might also remember Mary and Martha as the two sisters with kind of different personalities. One is the busy bee trying to serve and get things done. And one is the one who sits at the feet of Jesus.

But they both seem to be in agreement when Jesus shows up after the death of their brother. At two different places, they each say the same thing, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Sometimes emotions are combined. And here it seems they are not only experiencing sadness, but maybe some anger and bitterness as well. There is some blame. If the Lord had come, then they wouldn’t be grieving. If the Lord had come, Lazarus would still be alive.

Maybe you too have experienced this after the loss of a loved one. Not just grief and sadness, but anger. Maybe even blaming God as Mary and Martha seem to be blaming Jesus.

And then it is here in this scripture that we hear the shortest verse in all of scripture. A verse only2 words long, and yet there is so much depth in these words. “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35, NIV)

Scholars debate the meaning behind these words. Some say that Jesus wept over their unbelief. And there might be some truth to that. But at its core, I believe Jesus wept because he loved Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, and he was grieving at the loss of his dear friend and also grieving seeing his friends Mary and Martha grieving as well.

You see we have a God who came in the flesh and dwelled among us. We have a God who intimately knows what it means to be human. God knows what it feels to feel the emotions we feel. God knows what it means to grieve. God knows what it means to be sad. God knows what it means to lose a loved one.

And even though Jesus knows he is going to bring Lazarus back from the dead, he still weeps, he is still sad, he still grieves. Jesus grieves because death is not the way the world was meant to be.

The same is true for all of us, for Christians who believe our loved ones will experience resurrection and eternal life, we still grieve. I’ve told this story at most every funeral I’ve officiated, and I’ll share it here again.

When I was a kid, about 12 years old, I remember being at my grandma’s house when she got the call that one of her best friends had died. This was expected; she had cancer and had been sick for a long time. And I remember my grandma getting off the phone and looking at my sisters crying and saying, “I want you girls to know something. I’m not crying for her, I know she is no longer in pain now, no longer suffering. I’m crying for myself because I know how much I’m going to miss her.”

And I’ve never forgotten those words. Too often, well meaning Christians have told us not to cry because we have the hope of heaven. And that’s true, we do have the hope of heaven and that should bring us joy. But two things can be true at the same time. We can rejoice in the hope of heaven, and we can also be sad and grieve when we lose someone because death is not of God and we are crying for ourselves because we know how much we are going to miss someone.

If you have been told it’s not ok to cry, it’s not ok to weep, it’s not ok to mourn or cry because of your faith, I’m sorry. Please hear this: It’s ok to mourn, weep, and grieve. Jesus himself wept as well.

We as followers of Jesus Christ can weep and grieve when things in this world happen that are not of God. In scripture, there is even a term for this called Lament. Soong-Chan Rah explains, “Laments are prayers of petition arising out of need. But Lament is not simply the presentation of a list of complaints, nor merely the expression of sadness over difficult circumstances. Lament in the Bible is a liturgical response to the reality of suffering and engages God in the context of pain and trouble. The hope of Lament is that God would respond to human suffering that is wholeheartedly communicated through Lament.”(Soong-Chan Rah, Prophetic Lament)

Psalms is the songbook of the Jewish People, and it’s interesting that 40% of the Psalms are Psalms of Lament.  Interestingly, if we looked at our hymnal, I don’t think 40% of our hymns would be hymns of lament. We tend to shy away from Lament. We tend to focus on praise in our worship.

There is even a whole book in the Bible dedicated to Lament called “Lamentations.” But we tend to not focus on this book except for the part where we see some hope breaking in in Lamentations 3:22-23, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.”(Lamentations 3:22-23, NIV)

Even in the midst of Lament, grief, and sadness, God is faithful.

Just like last week, when we talked about anger and disgust, we should lament the things of this world that are not of God. We should lament things like violence, war, oppression, mass shootings, political division, child abuse, sickness, you name it. We should feel sadness over the things of this world that bring God sadness. Our hearts should break over the things that break God’s heart.

In our scripture, Lazarus is raised from the dead. Its Jesus’s greatest miracle that he performs. And it’s a wonderful miracle. But today, I don’t’ want us to focus on the resurrection of Lazarus. Yes, resurrection is coming. But today, I want us to sit in the sadness. I want us to sit in the grief. I want us to focus on a God who weeps with us.

Sometimes we can be quick to tell others to get over it or move to rejoicing. We can be quick to tell others to focus on resurrection and the hope of eternal life, which is absolutely amazing. But we can be uncomfortable with sitting with people in their sadness. We can be uncomfortable withsitting with people in their grief. We can be uncomfortable with weeping with others.

Perhaps right now, similar to the artist Pablo Picasso, you are going through your own Blue Period. You are sad, you are grieving. And well meaning people are trying to get you to move to joy, hope, and eternal life, which is wonderful, but it feels like no one is willing to sit with you in your sadness, no one is willing to sit with you in your grief. No one is willing to weep with you.

Many of you have heard me share before, but I will share again. The greatest “Blue Period” I ever went through was the loss of my first baby. I was about halfway through my pregnancy when my water broke and the baby did not make it because babies born that early can’t survive outside the womb.

And I can remember in those days, weeks, and months after, feeling a profound sadness that I had never experienced before or since. I remember saying, “I’m just so sad.” Now thankfully, the Lord did bring healing and resurrection to my life, especially through the births of our two daughters Ellie and Isla. But that healing and resurrection did not come overnight. I had to sit in my sadness. I had to sit in my grief.

And I am so thankful for the people in my life who sat with me in my grief. I am so thankful for the people who were not too uncomfortable to grieve and weep with me.

Here at Tomoka UMC, we actually do have people who are willing to sit with you in your grief, pain, struggle, whatever the need may be. They are called Stephen’s Ministers. “Stephen Ministers are lay congregation members trained to provide one-to-one care to those experiencing a difficult time in life, such as grief, divorce, job loss, chronic or terminal illness, or relocation. Stephen Ministers come from all walks of life, but they all share a passion for bringing Christ’s love and care to people during a time of need.” (StephenMinistry.org)

Diane Forbes is the leader of our Stephen Ministry here at Tomoka UMC and is starting a new class for those who are interested in becoming Stephen Ministers. And they did not know I was going to do that, but if you are a Stephen Minister, would you stand so that people could see who you are?

These are people who can help you in your time of grief. If you think you would benefit from a Stephen Minister in your life, please reach out to Diane, and she will help match you with a Stephen Minister who can journey with you through your grief.

I also want to touch on something that sometimes we can be too afraid to talk about in church. If your sadness and grief have moved to depression, and you are even thinking about harming yourself, please reach out to someone. Talk to a trusted friend, a pastor, a counselor. We want you here. We love you, and you are loved by God. We want you to get the help you need. So please reach out.

Now in the movie “Inside Out,” the character of Joy doesn’t understand sadness. She thinks sadness ruins everything. But sadness has this to this say about sadness, “Sadness matters. It helps us to remember what we love.” (Sadness, Inside Out) Don’t you love that? Sadness helps us to remember what we love.

You see, deep grief and deep sadness only exist where deep love first existed.

The God of the universe created us with a wide array of emotions. And that includes the emotion of sadness. Even Jesus grieved. Even Jesus wept. Let’s not be afraid to grieve and weep over the things of this world that cause us pain and grieve the heart of God. Let’s not be afraid to lament the problems of this world.

Let’s sit in our grief and not be afraid to sit with others in their grief as well. This is what it means to be a part of the Body of Christ. Grieving with those who grieve and rejoicing with those who rejoice.

So, let’s be the Body of Christ to one another. Let’s be friends with one another. Let us weep with one another, just as Jesus wept with Mary and Martha.

Yes, resurrection is coming, but in the meantime, let’s not be afraid to sit with others in their sadness.

Amen