This morning, due the recent loss of our beloved pet, I thought it would be helpful to meditate on Christ's compassion, especially as it relates to death. These verses are taken from John's Gospel, and the story of Lazarus. They occur before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.
John 11:32-36 NIV:
[32] "When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
[33] When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
[34] “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
[35] Jesus wept.
[36] Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
Reflecting on verse 33, there are three main Greek words used by John to describe Jesus' reaction to Mary and her friends, they are Embrimaomai, Klaio and Tarasso. The word Tarasso means to be troubled, but not just in spirit, to see the body agitated, arms swinging, pacing back and forth. The word Klaio means to wail and weep. The word Embrimaomai's root means to snort in anger, even while charging. I am not sure what exactly John is describing as a range of emotions for Jesus, but it was not simply feeling sad for Mary and her friends. This was something deep and appeared to affect his whole body and appearance.
We know from Jesus' earlier comments to his disciples that He understood that Lazarus would be raised from the dead, so one would think that he would be largely unaffected by their sorrow, knowing that it would be turned to joy soon enough, yet that is not the case. Instead he is stirred up and passionate, weeping and wailing himself. One can only assume that His reaction is extreme empathy, and also likely rooted in his own experience.
I find it very hard to empathize with someone who is going through a hard time, if I haven't gone through it myself. I used to feel really sorry for families who had members going through cancer, but now having watched my sweetheart suffer through Chemo and surgery and all the years of affected life, I have a completely different level of empathy for those who are dealing with Cancer. Similarly, when I hear of someone who is laid off from the job, I now know exactly how hard that time can be having been laid off several times. My heart and my mind, my emotions are all engaged to different levels than before I had these experiences. Thus, I believe that Jesus was empathetic to the level He demonstrated because He knew exactly how they felt.
Several years ago I spent quite a bit of time reflecting on Jesus' quiet 30 years of life, prior to being released into visible ministry. We believe that during this time his father Joseph passed away, for he is not mentioned in any of the stories once Jesus began his ministry. Jesus was known as the Carpenter's son and had likely served as Joseph's apprentice. This means that all day long, every day, He interacted with Joseph, was coached and trained by Joseph, and everything He knew about carpentry was likely taught to Him by Joseph. It is only natural to assume that when Joseph was dying, whatever the cause, that Jesus was deeply impacted. This man had raised Him as his own, had taught Him most everything, was His constant companion and teacher. I believe it is safe to say that Jesus was the man He was because of Joseph.
In light of this, I imagine that Jesus also knew exactly who He was and what He was called to do, and capable of doing through God's power. We are told early in Luke's Gospel that Jesus was aware of His true Father in heaven by the time he was 12, and that Joseph was still alive at that point. I imagine that Jesus had several long conversations in prayer with His Father in heaven, when it was clear that Joseph was dying. I imagine that Jesus was greatly moved by the loss of Joseph as well as by the inability to do anything for him, in spite of His special relationship with the Father in Heaven, because the time had not yet come for His public ministry. I imagine that Jesus exhibited the same mourning for Joseph as he did for Mary, Martha and their friends. He wept because He knew their pain! He mourned because He knew the depths of despair and helplessness they felt in the face of death. He was troubled because He knew what they had been through the last 4 days, and the days leading up to Lazarus' death.
Jesus also says in John's gospel that He only did what He saw the Father doing, and said what the Father told Him to say, so we can also conclude that Jesus being touched deeply by his friend's death, and other friend's suffering and mourning, is originating with His Father. In other words, the Father knows exactly how we are feeling and He also mourns with us. This is actually a pretty startling revelation, yet we should not be surprised because it is depth of love that ties us to others, and allows us to experience their pain and loss. It is the bonds of friendship, relationship and family that connect us to one another, and thus when one friend hurts, all of their friends hurt, when one member in a relationship hurts the other member hurts, and when one family member hurts the whole family hurts. Paul takes this understanding to a body analogy. If then Lord is the head of the Body of Christ, than He clearly feels everything the Body feels. Paul says it this way, "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." (1 Corinthians 12:25 NIV).
In summary, we clearly have Lord who understands our pains, our suffering, our sadness and our loss in the face of death. His omnipotence and omniscience do not override His love and concern, his empathy or compassion. He loves us and His heart goes out to us, just as He showed us in the case of Martha, Mary and their friends. He is also the God of peace and comfort, so let us turn to Him for both in our times of need, for His love compels Him to turn His heart towards us.
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