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14.06.2012 Religion

THE COMPASSIONATE KING

14.06.2012 LISTEN
By Edwin Nii Ayerh Adjei

John 11:33-35
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” He asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept.

“Misery loves company” is an expression we have all heard or spoken time and time again. While it is mostly misconstrued by the majority of the people, others have employed to make people feel more miserable, who are already miserable. The original meaning of this expression is that when people find out that they are not the only ones encountering what is making them miserable, it gives them a sense of hope and encouragement, especially if they know that other people have been where they are now and made it out successfully. It does not mean that when people are miserable, they want everybody else around them to be miserable as is believed by a lot of people. However, this is not to dispute the fact that there are people who do not wish anyone good fortunes especially if they are having none.


Having said that, I believe the two interpretations only establishes a nuance. The thing is, instead of saying “Misery loves company”, why not say, “Misery with a shoulder to lean on is victory” or “An outstretched arm dissolves all misery”? I believe if half of the people who are miserable had someone to lean on, there would be no need for the expression “Misery loves company”. This speaks volumes of how much love and compassion exists in our world today.

In the Scripture, we are told that when Jesus saw how much distress and sorrow the sister of Lazarus and her companions were in, coupled with their weeping, He was deeply moved in Spirit and troubled and, He also wept. I think I share a similar experience as Jesus. Sometime ago, I went for the funeral of a very good friend who had passed away at a very young age and under bizarre and very painful circumstances. Although tears rolled down my cheeks intermittently because of this painful loss, I was beside myself with much grief when I saw how much pain those who were much closer to this friend of were in. The sight of how much his mother wailed and wriggled because of her loss made me break down in uncontrollable tears in public. Normally, I would have done everything possible not to cry like a baby in front of all of those people but o just couldn't. I believe this is close to the kind of compassion that Jesus had on people which we all need to emulate.


As a Christian, when you come across a fellow Christian who is backslidden, how do you feel? Do you just sit back and criticize or do you feel sorrowful, knowing that the end of that sister or brother will not be glorious? When you encounter people whose lives have been taken over by drugs and alcohol, people who womanize, are polygamous, prostitutes, thieves, swindlers, unruly and so on, do you get troubled or do you feel they deserve the worst that can happen to them and that, their sudden demise would be a good riddance? Do you get moved in Spirit when you see people who cannot afford decent meals, clothing, shelter, education; people who are suffering from deadly diseases or do you just stigmatize them and look upon them with haughty eyes?


It is very important to know that feeling compassionate about the misery of people is quite noble but not enough. Compassion goes with action according to James 2:17. In John 11:38-44, we are told what Jesus did after He had been moved in spirit because of the people's loss and pain. He took away their pain and misery by addressing their predicament – He raised Lazarus from the dead.


In John 5:1-14, there is an account of an infirmed man who had been by a pool which heals whatever infirmity anyone suffers whenever it is stirred. Unfortunately for this man, he had not been one of the quickest to get into the pool whenever it is stirred. This had consequently made him live with his infirmity and ironically close to the pool for thirty-eight years. In verse 6 of John 5, the Bible says, “When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time,…” Now, the use of the words “saw” and “learned” suggests to me that this encounter with the infirmed man was the first one that Jesus had with him. In verse 7 of the same chapter, the Bible reads, “'Sir', the invalid replied, 'I have no one to help me into the pool when it is stirred…'” The question I always ask myself is, in the whole of Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate, for thirty-eight good years, was there no one who knew this man or of his predicament? The answer obviously is there was, and if that be the case and they couldn't have done anything at all to help this man, couldn't they at least have helped him into the pool whenever it is stirred so he could be healed of his infirmity? No they “they couldn't”, yet I am sure he got uncountable “Misery-loves-company-s”. Amazing, isn't it? It took Jesus only one day of meeting this man to help him out of his misery. This is truly a compassionate king. This man shouldn't have suffered for thirty-eight years but he did. It is rather unfortunate and with a sad heart that I say that there are even worse things happening today.


There are people who all they care about is amassing wealth and spending it on sinful pleasures while people rot away on hospital beds. The Bible says in Isaiah 5:8-9 that, “Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land…'Surely, the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants.'” There are fathers who do not know the first thing about how and what their children eat; all they care about is their own welfare. There are people who have orphans and widows in their families but have never visited them or even asked how they are faring.


The remarkable story is told of a great Christian Evangelist named George Muller who became the Director of Ashley Down Orphanage in Bristol, England. He cared for 10,024 orphans in his life. He was well known for providing an education for the children under his care to the point where he was accused of raising the poor above their natural station in life. He also established 117 schools which provided Christian-Education to over 120,000 children, many of them being orphans. His organization, not receiving government support and only accepting unsolicited received and disbursed £1,381,171 (approximately $2,718,844), around £90 million in today's(April, 2012) terms by the time of Muller's death. His personal income from unsolicited gifts (he refused any kind of salary), rose from £151 in 1831 to more than £2000 in 1870. However, he retained only around £300 a year for himself and his family, the rest he gave away. When he died, his entire estate consisted of only 169 pounds, 9 shillings and 4 pennies, the equivalent of $850 today, among which over $500 worth were in furniture, books and belongings. Now this is the sort of account which gives you a good picture of who a compassionate king is.


In Genesis 12:2, God said to Abraham, “…I will bless you; and you will be a blessing.” Jesus, when He was moved in spirit, used the resources He had at His disposal (His Power), to call Lazarus back from the dead and out of the tomb as well as heal the impaired man among many others.

If you have been moved in spirit by someone's misery, what have you done about it with the resources at your disposal? You may have influence, but what have you done about that poor unemployed young man or woman? You have been saved but what have you done about your unsaved neighbor? Let's not be like the Priest and the Levite who passed by the man who had been beaten, stripped and left half-dead. Let's be like the good Samaritan who had pity on him and who not only went to bandage his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them but also took him to an inn, took care of him, took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper to take care of him and further promised to return to reimburse all additional expenses that would be made in the process of helping the poor man to recuperate.


Be the sheep to whom Jesus would say, “…take your inheritance. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” –Matthew25:34-36.

Jesus, because of the compassionate King that He was and still is, was always sensitive to the needs and misery of His people and He always responded to them as such. Today, you can also be a compassionate king or queen to someone. Just look around you; you don't have to look far – your family, church, neighbourhood, community, schools, hospitals, streets, prisons, orphanages – and you will find someone to whom you can extend a compassionate hand

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