“Compassion”
SCRIPTURE
Jesus began to weep. —John 11:35
(read John 11:17-44 for context)
DEVOTIONAL
When Jesus approached the home of Mary and Martha shortly after their brother, Lazarus, died, Martha was first to meet him. She said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus told her he was the resurrection, but it didn’t seem to help. Moments later, Mary approached him to say the exact same thing. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” And it wasn’t just the sisters but the mourners around them who questioned Jesus’ power, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” They wanted a quick fix, but resurrection is not resuscitation.
When Jesus saw the ones he loved suffering, he was “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” Then, in the shortest verse in all the New Testament, Jesus revealed what it meant to be the resurrection. “Jesus began to weep.” He didn’t move to fix the problem. He didn’t offer words that might make them nod in hope. He certainly didn’t try to explain their pain away as a lack of faith. He moved deeper into the suffering. He chose to feel the soul’s deep nausea that comes when there is no explanation, the exhausting despair when there is no apparent way to “fix” it. They wanted him to share his divine power. He chose to share their humanity.
Jesus did not come to fix our problems. He is not a plumber. Jesus does not visit to give us what we want if we are “good.” He is not Santa Claus. Jesus did not come to make us feel better. Jesus came to make us be better. To empower us to be more fully human. This saving power transforms us when we (resisting the urge to “fix”) willfully move into the tombs of another’s humanity knowing that the only way out is through, and the only way through is together.
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- In his book, “Following Jesus,” Henri Nouwen writes of Jesus’s compassion for the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17), “His compassion became a movement of life” (p.77). In your experience, where in this story did you witness new life in the midst of compassion?
- Some argue that our desire to “fix,” “explain,” or “rationalize,” someone’s pain is more about our personal resistance to emotional, spiritual, or psychological discomfort. What challenges do you face when moving into another’s suffering?
- How can you be a little more compassionate today?
“Compassion is about noticing the person in front of you before the ideology inside of you. And it’s about making choices to privilege that person.” —Brad Hirshfield
PRAYER
God in our Joy and God in our pain, we pray for the courage to move into those places of powerlessness and disorder. As we do, open our hearts so that,
through compassion, we find each other,
in our shared pain, we find healing,
by your grace, we experience resurrection.
In the name of Emmanuel, God with us, Amen.
The daily devotionals for the season of Lent are written by Rev. Dr. Kirk Hall, Associate Pastor of Formation at First Presbyterian Church from 2010-2013. He is currently a founding partner at The Metis Project, LLC. and lives with his wife and two girls in Salisbury, Connecticut.