Trademarked by compassion

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Matthew 9:27-38

TO CHEW ON: “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” Matthew 10:36

Matthew here goes from zoom-in closeups of Jesus responding, questioning, touching, healing, and casting out demons from individuals (Matthew 9:27-34), to the general effect of His presence and ministry (Matthew 9:35-36).

He was everyone’s as He traveled around visiting the synagogues in big places and small. His work was preaching good news and doing good things for everyone—healing “every sickness and every disease” - Matthew 9:35. His trademark was compassion (Matthew 9:36).

We see this side of Jesus at other times too—like when He wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44) and at the grave of His friend Lazarus (John 11:35). A sidebar article in my Bible about Jesus’ compassion suggests facets of it.

It was compassion for hard human hearts and vulnerability to death. “Love sees beyond the immediate and the personal and compassionately relates to the lost, the hurting, the needy, the distressed” - Fuchsia Pickett, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1307 (emphasis added).

That’s my challenge. Perhaps it’s yours too: to see beyond the immediate and the personal, to look past offensive, off-putting behaviours to the very human person behind the actions.

For this we need more than human empathy. To attain real Christlikeness we need the Spirit that lived in Jesus:

“Christlikeness calls us to learn Jesus’ heart of compassion, a depth of sensitivity that can be worked in us through the Holy Spirit, reconditioning our hearts to be able to sense the pain of human bondage (Hebrews 13:1-3) and to weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15)” - Fuchsia Pickette, Op. Cit (emphasis added)

PRAYER: Dear Holy Spirit, please work the compassion of Jesus into my outlook and actions today. Amen.

 *********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Job's comforters

"Job Is Visited by His Three Friends" - Artist Unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Job 2:1-13

TO CHEW ON: "So they (Job's three friends) sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights and no one spoke a word to him for they saw that his grief was very great." Job 2:13

Life is full of bad news. We're always glad when that bad news isn't ours and we can comfort instead of grieve. How should we respond to someone who has lost a loved one through death, suffered a life-changing accident, or got the worst diagnosis?

We actually have two responses here:

• Job's wife advised him to give up. "Curse God and die!" she said (Job 2:9). Having just listened in on the conversation between Satan and God, where Satan said, "But now, stretch out Your hand ... and he will surely curse You to Your face" (Job 1:11) the source of Job's wife's idea becomes clear. It was part of Satan's test, inspired by the father of lies and destruction himself. Job's answer was a definite 'no '(Job 2:10) and it was probably therapeutic for Job to hear himself put into words his faith in God in the face of all that had happened.

• Job's friends also came to commiserate with him. These are the three men whose later attempts to comfort fell so flat people have coined the phrase "Job's comforter" to describe a person whose attempts to comfort hurt more than they help. But I would say that in today's reading, they did at least two things right:

- They came to be with Job.
- For one week they sat in silent empathy with him.

What are some other right things to do to comfort someone who is grieving. Rebecca's husband died of cancer in the prime of his life so she has had experience with grief. In an article called "What to do when someone you know dies," she gives ten suggestions of actions we can take after someone's death:

1. Send a card or letter.
2. Send flowers.
3. Give food.
4. Give to a good cause in the deceased person's name.
5. Visit.
6. Tell them your memories of their loved one.
7. Offer to do something specific for them.
8. Go to the funeral or memorial service.
9. Invite the family over for coffee.
10. Pray for them.

Of course the ways to comfort people going through other tragedies would be slightly different, but some of these items would apply.

Rebecca ends her article with this advice:

"The most important thing to remember is that exactly what you do isn’t as important as that you do something to acknowledge the death. If you’ve procrastinated until you’re afraid it’s too late, take heart; it’s not. A month later or half a year later, your gesture will still be appreciated. Who knows, it might even be more appreciated, because by then the dust has settled and reality has set in." Read entire article...

So before we dump all over Job's friends, let's give credit where it's due. They came and they sat with Job as he grieved the death of his kids and the state of his health. That was a good thing.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to have empathy with those who are grieving and to know how to show it in tactful and comforting ways. Amen.

MORE: A passage about comfort

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Lessons for the comforter

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Job 34:16-37

TO CHEW ON: " ' If you have understanding, hear this;
Listen to the sound of my words: … ' " Job 34:16

Some wise person has said, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Elihu doesn't seem to be aware of the principle behind that saying. He continues speaking to suffering Job like a lawyer building up to a "guilty" verdict.

In his defense of God he makes many claims we would call true. In yesterday's reading we considered his defense of God's justice. Today he upholds God's omniscience (Job 34:21,22,25) and omnipotence (Job 34:24,25).

The writer of the Asbury Bible Commentary puts a finger on the disconnect  we feel between young Elihu's often accurate words and how they must sound to the ill patriarch:

"While Elihu has the luxury of being theoretical and general (which he is) in his comments, Job, by virtue of his sufferings, is personal and existential in his. At issue in the book is not the justice of God in general, but his justice as it pertains to Job's suffering" - Asbury Bible Commentary, accessed via "Study This" on BibleGateway.

Also, Elihu's arguments lead him to a wrong conclusion (Job 34:34-37):  "Elihu is forced to picture Job as a wicked person if his theological assumptions are to stand" - Asbury Bible Commentary. Elihu's conclusion isn't accurate, as we know from our glimpse behind the scenes - see Job 1:8; 2:3.

I see two lessons for myself and perhaps all of us in this installment:

1. When we talk to someone who is suffering, our knowledge and certainties need to be delivered with empathy. How much easier Elihu's speech would have been for Job to hear if Elihu had acknowledged Job's condition, spoken with less stridency, softened his tone even a little.

2. We need to be careful of being too either/or in our theology so we avoid being forced into a false-conclusion corner because of our incomplete human knowledge. Elihu knew nothing of the extraterrestrial dialogue that preceded Job's trouble. His tight system brought him to the same wrong conclusion (that Job had brought this trial on himself: "…for he adds rebellion to his sin…  Job. 34:37) that Job's other friends came to.  It's way better to hold our peace in matters of divine cause and effect—things about which we have limited knowledge.

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to learn the lessons of empathy and humility as I seek to understand life's difficulties and comfort my suffering friends. Amen.

 *********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.