{"id":12955,"date":"2016-12-08T01:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T09:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/?p=12955"},"modified":"2016-12-07T13:31:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-07T21:31:00","slug":"compassion-of-the-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2016\/12\/08\/compassion-of-the-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Compassion of the Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Roger Alcaraz<\/em><\/p>\n

Not too long ago, I attended a biblical counseling conference hosted by Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF). I probably wouldn\u2019t have gone except that this year it was on the topic of emotions, and was it a blessing! I thought I might give you a taste of the conference. So this article is a reflection of some of what I learned there.<\/p>\n

When it comes to your emotions, maybe you feel you have good control over them. Even so, I\u2019m willing to bet you sometimes feel emotions you don\u2019t want to. Sure, we can fake being happy, put on a smile, spend time with people, laugh at the right times, but then go home and bury our face in our pillow with tears. We can fake being at peace, speak calmly to people, show hospitality to those who have wronged us, and say we forgive them, but then pound our fists on the walls the moment no one is looking.<\/p>\n

Even as you consider today, you can probably think of a time when you faked an emotion. When you were angry, you pretended to be peaceful. When you were anxious, you pretended to be patient. When you were sad, you pretended to be happy. Emotions are certainly hard to control, and I think if we were able to control our emotions, most of us would want to produce more joy in our lives. While joy is something we\u2019re commanded to seek, what about purposefully engaging in a painful emotion for the sake of serving someone else?<\/p>\n

In John 11, we have the account of Jesus\u2019 raising Lazarus from the grave. We read that Jesus is near Bethany when a man named Lazarus becomes ill. His sisters were two of Jesus\u2019 friends, Martha and Mary. And in verse three, we read \u201cSo the sisters sent to him, saying, \u2018Lord, he whom you love is ill.\u2019 But when Jesus heard it, he said, \u2018This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.\u2019\u201d Thus, this story is ultimately about the glory of God. It then makes sense that Jesus would allow Lazarus to die: in order to show that he has power over death and, thus, bring glory to God.<\/p>\n

But verses 5-6 have always confused me. They say, \u201cNow Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.\u201d I was confused by one word at the start of verse 6, \u201cSo.\u201d It could also be translated as \u201ctherefore,\u201d connecting two idea in such a way is \u201cthis\u201d results in \u201cthat.\u201d What\u2019s shocking is the two ideas being connected: Jesus\u2019 love and Lazarus\u2019 death. The verses could be summarized to say, \u201cJesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, therefore he let Lazarus die.\u201d You can see why it makes no sense. Because we would expect to read, \u201cJesus loved them, but he let Lazarus die.\u201d Or, \u201cJesus loved them, so he healed Lazarus.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this is the disciple, John, writing, and he\u2019s providing a type of divine commentary to what\u2019s happening. We might not see the connection, but God has revealed it to John and he understands it looking back on the event as he writes. I doubt he would have understood at the time, that Jesus, in waiting for Lazarus to die, was motivated by love. But as he records these events for all Christians to read forever, he lets us in on a divine mystery. So here\u2019s the question: How could love motivate Christ to let Lazarus die and to let his sisters agonize over his death? Unless you\u2019re able to answer this question, you\u2019re going to have a skewed understanding of Jesus\u2019 love in your own suffering.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 love for them is undeniable. Even in this short account, we\u2019re told multiple times that he loves them. But more than that, we see a demonstration of his love that, without the death, these sisters would have never been able to experience.<\/p>\n

In verse 35, John tells us that Jesus wept, and it\u2019s in the very next verse that the crowds proclaim, \u201cSee how much he loved him.\u201d Soon after this, Jesus resurrects Lazarus but the crowds give no such response, not even a remark about his love. And so we see, just as the Jews did, that Christ demonstrated his love through weeping and not by resurrecting Lazarus. Isn\u2019t it amazing to think that more love is shown through weeping than through coming in and just fixing the problem?<\/p>\n

As soon as Jesus heard that Lazarus was nearing death, Jesus could have snapped his fingers and say, \u201cNo he isn\u2019t!\u201d And they all would have said, \u201cPraise Jesus!\u201d But they would have never known how much Jesus loved them had he not come and wept. Also, had Jesus simply healed Lazarus from the start, he would have saved himself this agony as well. But we see that Jesus\u2019 desire to show people love is greater than his desire to save himself from pain. He\u2019s willing to endure the more painful route, not necessarily to fix the problem, but simply to demonstrate love.<\/p>\n

And so, as it relates to your own struggles, realize that your suffering allows Christ to demonstrate his love for you as he cares for you. You may feel distant from him because of trials. Perhaps you\u2019re thinking, \u201cHow can God love me if I\u2019m suffering?\u201d But understand that it\u2019s actually during trials that Christ is able to draw nearer than ever.<\/p>\n

Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, Jesus commanded the disciples to spread the gospel, and he gave them this promise: \u201cAnd behold I am with you always, even to the end of the age.\u201d And I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a coincidence that Jesus made that promise while commissioning the disciples for a task that would end up killing them. They needed that promise. They needed the confidence to say, \u201cNo matter where I am and no matter who\u2019s threatening to kill me, Christ is with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have a great high priest who sympathizes with our weakness (Hebrews 4:15). It\u2019s more than just him saying, \u201cOh, I know how that feels.\u201d If you\u2019re lonely, not only does he know how that feels, but his heart weeps for you. If you suffer a severe loss, sure he knows a thing or two about loss, but he also grieves over your suffering.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of passages that talk about how God grieves, there are even some that talk about the Holy Spirit grieving, a lot of times they\u2019re seen grieving over sin and I believe that remains true today. God, the Holy Spirit, even Christ grieve over your sin. But when we look at Jesus\u2019 earthly ministry, what else does he grieve over? Many times, it\u2019s people\u2019s pain. Jesus hates tragedy. He mourns at your loss. He grieves in your suffering. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked; how much less does he take pleasure in the suffering of his children?<\/p>\n

The heart of Christ we see in the gospels is the same heart he has for his people today. Why else give the promise to always be with us except to comfort us in our suffering? Christ wants to comfort you in your pain. When you cry out to him in all of your distress, do you really think he shakes his head and says, \u201cWhy is this person still struggling?\u201d Or do you think he bears your pain and takes it as his own, just like he did every time he showed compassion on earth?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder that Christ said \u201cCome to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.\u201d It\u2019s also no wonder that the law of Christ is summarized into one command, \u201cBear one another\u2019s burdens\u201d– because that is what Christ did and continues to do. And you\u2019ll notice the verse doesn\u2019t say, \u201cFix one another\u2019s problems, and so fulfill the law of Christ.\u201d We\u2019re called to bear each other\u2019s burden.<\/p>\n

So if this is how Jesus is, why is it that when we hear of someone\u2019s distress and tragedy, our first thought is to try to fix the problem? I know it\u2019s done out of a heart of love, but if you want to show love, you\u2019re going to have to weep with them. It has to bother you as though you were the one suffering.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say that we don\u2019t eventually try to speak truth into someone\u2019s life. Romans 8:28 is a glorious verse that assures us of God\u2019s good plan, but there\u2019s a proper time for that. At the conference, a letter was read from a man describing how his friends tried to help during his time of suffering but often fell short. The man was heartbroken, and as he was pouring out his experience on paper, he wrote, \u201cThe next person to quote Romans 8:28, I\u2019m gonna punch them in the stomach. And then, while the pain is still fresh, I\u2019m going to remind them of Romans 8:28.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not about applying the most expedient solution. In fact, you shouldn\u2019t even think about a solution until you\u2019ve meditated on their pain, until you feel weighed down by their troubles, until they know you love them because you\u2019re willing to suffer with them. We can learn a lot from Jesus on how we ought to love one another. But I pray if there\u2019s one thing you remember from this article, it\u2019s that Jesus always demonstrated his love by taking our pain upon himself, and we need to do the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Roger Alcaraz Not too long ago, I attended a biblical counseling conference hosted by Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF). I probably wouldn\u2019t have gone except that this year it was on the topic of emotions, and was it a blessing! I thought I might give you a taste of the conference. So this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-affinity-groups","category-singles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12955"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12968,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12955\/revisions\/12968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}