Compassion Healing
John 11:35 (NIV) 35 Jesus wept.
There is a Chinese proverb that says, “A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses.” How true this is, for we never touch the life of another without also touching our own.
This evening I want to talk about Lazarus of Bethany, the brother of Mary and Martha and friend of Jesus, fell sick and died.
John 11:1-45 (NIV)
The Death of Lazarus
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
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!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

That story, from the eleventh chapter of John’s Gospel, records one of the many mighty miracles Jesus Christ performed while he was here on earth.
And I believe we have much more to learn from those verses in John 11:1-45.

Jesus’ question, “Do you want to get well?” and choose healing, God gives us “Healing Power” when we help others to Heal.
This week, I want to discuss another critical step in the process of healing--whether your hurt is the result of ridicule or rejection, or abuse, a dysfunctional family, a toxic church, or a romance that went sour, or the betrayal of a friend, whether it’s recent or ancient, clear-cut or confusing . . .I want to present “Healing Power”

I want you to notice that before Jesus raised Lazarus, before he prayed aloud in front of the crowd, before he told the men in the group to roll away the stone, he did something else.
You probably know it as the shortest verse in the Bible, John 11:35. Look at it:
“Jesus wept” (John 11:35).

Now, I want you to take a minute to consider with me . . .
Why did Jesus weep? What prompted his tears?
After all, he knew what he was about to do, right?
• He knew that he had the power to raise Lazarus from the dead.
• He knew that he would soon correct the cause of Mary and Martha’s grief.
• He knew, as he told Martha, that Lazarus would rise again.
• He knew that he would soon turn their mourning into dancing.
• He knew the story would have a happy ending.
Why, then, did he cry?
The answer, often overlooked, is found in John’s Gospel account. Look at verse 33: 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.

It was Mary’s tears—and the tears of her friends and relatives—that prompted his tears.
He knew what he was about to do, but he cried anyway, because
• When he saw Mary hurting, he hurt, too.
• When he saw her grieving, he grieved, too.
• When he saw her crying, he cried, too.

And I want to suggest to you, that if you’re hurting this evening, for any reason, a critical step to healing will be for you to experience what Mary experienced that day outside her brother’s tomb, and that is to . . .

1. Let God Comfort You

John 11:35 may be just two words long, but I believe it’s one of the biggest verses in the Bible.
Why? Because it shows a God who cries. And not only that . . . It reveals that your tears bring tears to God’s eyes.

Whatever hurts you’re struggling with right now, Jesus is hurting with you.

Just as he was by the tomb of Lazarus,
Jesus is “deeply moved in spirit and troubled” by your pain and sorrow.

Just as he cried over Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37 (KJV) O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
he is even now gazing into your heart and crying over your hurt, your burden, your sorrow.

Can you understand, can you believe, that the things that are hurting you even now, at this very moment, bring tears to his eyes?

Don’t just nod your head. Take a minute to let yourself grasp that truth.
Let God use it to touch your heart with his Love.
Let me say it again: Can you understand, can you believe, that the things that are hurting you even now, at this very moment, bring tears to his eyes?

Whether your pain is the result (like that of Mary at the tomb of Lazarus) of life’s unexplainable losses and disappointments, or whether you are hurting--as Jesus himself did--as the result of someone else’s sin, or even if (like the people of Jerusalem) you are suffering because of your own sin, the same Jesus who cried for Mary, who mourned over Jerusalem hurts for you right now.
John’s Gospel reveals to us that our God is a God who cries, and he is crying for you, for the pain you feel, for the trouble you are enduring, for the BAD choices you have made.

So please, if you’re hurting this evening, if you have any wounds that haven’t healed, any lingering hurts in your heart, God is with you right now, sharing your hurt, bearing your sorrow right along with you.

If you can let yourself, feel that, realize it, begin to thank him for it, you’ve begun to experience the Power of Healing and God’s compassion healing.

But there’s more. Letting God, through his Holy Spirit working in your body, soul, and spirit, has the power to heal the hurts you don’t deserve.

But God has ordained another step in the process, and that is to . . .

2. Let Others Comfort You

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (NIV) 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

You see, if we truly want to experience healing, we need to let others extend true comfort to us--

But, you see, most of us don’t really know what compassion is . . . But once again, we can learn from Jesus’ example:
Remember the things Jesus did not do at the tomb of Lazarus.
• He didn’t dismiss Mary’s pain and tell her she shouldn’t feel so bad.
• He didn’t offer advice.
• He didn’t try to cheer her up.
• He didn’t even spiritualize the situation and quote Scripture to her or ask her if she’d prayed enough.
• What DID Jesus Do?
• No, he simply shared her pain: he hurt with her, he cared for her, and cried with her.

That’s what real “Compassion Healing” looks like and feels like.

And that’s what we need when we’re hurting.
We don’t need to hear, “I know exactly how you feel.”
We don’t need to hear, “You think you’ve got problems? Let me tell you what happened to me.”
We don’t need to hear, “You know what you need? A chocolate shake” . . . Okay, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad, but we don’t need unwanted advice, we don’t need a guilt trip.

We need compassion, real compassion.

Real compassion says, “I’m so sorry you’re in such pain.”
Real compassion says, “It hurts me to see you hurt.” Real compassion communicates, in word and deed:
o “I’m sad because you’re sad,” and
o “It makes me cry to see you cry,” and
o “I’m willing to share your hurt, right here, right now.”
That’s what was happening when “Jesus wept” (John 11:35), and believe it or not, that kind of comfort has a remarkable healing power that comes from God, through another, to your hurting heart.

In fact, I will go so far as to say that if you haven’t let God and others extend comfort to you by crying with you and hurting with you, then you can do a lot of things with your hurt--you can swallow it, you can stuff it down, you can ignore it, you can try to forget about it, you can get revenge, you can maybe even get some relief from time to time, but you’ll never be healed.
But if you let God comfort you and cry with you, and let a brother or sister comfort you, you’ll not only feel the healing power of God working in your heart . . . You’ll find, just like the Bible says, that comfort will overflow, and as you experience more and more healing and freedom from the pain that plagues you, you’ll “comfort those in any trouble with the comfort [you yourself] have received from God.” V.4

Closing:
I invite you to do that this evening.
I invite you to call out to God in prayer and let your heart receive his comfort.
I invite you to reach out to someone close to you, a friend, or a family member, and pour out your heart--and your hurt--to that person, and let him or her hurt with you, cry with you, comfort you.
I invite you, even as I start praying in a few moments, or as we sing a final chorus or two, or even after the service, to come and meet with someone and let us pray with you and hurt with you and cry with you and “comfort you in your trouble with the comfort we have received from God.” V.5
True compassion does not stand and offer only words in time of need. Real compassion does not only look, it sees. The eyes of compassion see the pain and suffering of the other person and have the courage not only to look, but to look for ways to help, however small those ways might be.
Thanks to Pastor Bob Hostetler for his inspiration and the message “Healing Power”.