The Lord Jesus Suffers with You
Isaiah says: “In all their affliction He was afflicted.”
When the Lord Jesus sees suffering, He is moved with compassion. He does not want us to be insensitive to pain nor does He want us to feel sorry for ourselves. He wants us to show sufficient compassion to those who suffer. Our Lord always shows sympathy and kindness to us in all the unavoidable encounters and troubles we have in life. Only He will never fail us. Towards us, our Lord is really closer than all human relations.
I often feel that when a family loses one of their loved ones for the first time, that would be the saddest and most painful experience. However, Christ has come. He has made up for the lack brought about by death by giving us life. He has called us to live in the eternal life with His love and grace. He knows how to comfort us because He is the resurrection and the life. He knows what death is better than all of us. He once wept over death because He Himself has died and He will surely comfort you. Although we are in His comfort, we still feel sorrow. However, His comfort cannot be touched by death.
Once, there was a brother who was seriously ill. Many brothers and sisters came to visit him. They were recalling how he has been serving our Lord faithfully and caring for all the other members of the Body. One of them prayed: “Lord, you know that He loves you”. However, this sick brother said “My brother, do not say this. When Martha and Mary sent someone to the Lord, they do not say ‘Lord, the one who loves you is sick’. Rather, they said, ‘Lord, the one whom You love is sick’. It is not my imperfect love toward the Lord that causes me to be comforted, but rather His unlimited love toward Me that comforts me”.
Christ has already experienced everything that we could ever experience. He experienced the deepest suffering of mankind in order to save us. Of course, human sympathy is a comfort. However, humans often can do nothing to help, while God’s compassion comes with power. How good it is to have God’s compassion.