Ezekiel 24:15-24 / Matthew 19:16-22
Physical pain can be bearable but yet when the pain goes beyond the body's threshold of tolerance, then the body will just black-out or shut down.
That is the body's way of handling pain.
But how about sorrow and grief? There are certain ways to express our sorrow and grief, like crying and wailing.
But when sorrow and grief overwhelms us, what will happen to us?
When the prophet Ezekiel's wife died, he was told by God not to express his sorrow and grief.
Moreover when the people asked him why he was not grieving, he was to respond that this was how God wanted them to mourn for the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.
The point here is that the mourning, the sorrow and the grief is so great that it cannot be expressed in the usual way.
Similarly, to give up the material and the luxurious things of life can be a painful sacrifice, as the rich young man in the gospel passage of today would surely understand.
To lose wealth and health can be overwhelming.
But the ultimate tragedy and disaster is to lose God and heaven because of personal sin as well as the unwillingness to repent.
No amount of sorrow and grief can be expressed for that kind of tragedy and loss.
May we always desire for the eternal treasures and cherish the blessings that God had bestowed on us.