It was difficult for Jesus to watch people he loved experience such heartache. Never was there a heart more tender than his. When the crowds begged for healing, he complied. When Mary and Martha wept for their brother Lazarus, he called forth Lazarus from the tomb. When the multitude hungered, he gave them fishes and loaves. When they cursed and crucified him, he asked the Father to forgive them. Now his closest friends were grieving. They were grieving because he had been nailed to a cruel cross on a hill called "the place of the skull." Jesus hurt in their behalf as they struggled with their feelings of loss and of betrayal.

Many of us have experienced such feelings. We dread death not so much because of our own anxiety about the end of mortal life, but because we fear the impact on tho…