“the Lord is full of tender compassion”
(James 5:11, Darbey)
In Elisabeth Eybers’ poem about Maria the poem’s narrator juxtaposes Maria’s positive experiences surrounding the birth of Jesus with the excruciating pain He would endure in order to fulfill his task. Towards the end of the poem the once “favoured” girl from Nasareth is called a “woman of sorrows”, analogous to “the man of sorrows” (Isa 53:3) of which Isaiah had prophesied. She had so identified with her Son that she shared his suffering. Simon’s prophetic word had become her truth – “a sword will pierce through your own soul” (Luke 2:35).
In his long epic poem Paradise Lost the blind poet Milton sketched, in dramatic verse, the sequence of events that marked the fall of Adam and Eve in Eden. At one point there is a conversation between Lucifer, Moloch, Mammon and Beelzebub about the best way of bringing man, the crown of God’s creation, to a fall. Beelzebub suggested a strategy – “What if we find / some easier enterprise? …”
God, true to his nature of excellence, had set a particular standard (Gen 1:26), and Satan positioned himself as opposing this standard (Gen 3:1-5), presenting man with an “easier enterprise”. The road Satan would have us follow is often dangerously steep in the eyes of God (Num 22:32). We are so easily misled, and then Isa 47:10 is also true of us – “For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, ‘No one sees me’; your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you; and you have said in your heart, ‘ I am, and there is no one else besides me.’” (Sounds a bit like Lucifer, does it not?)
Throughout the Word we find God displaying grace and compassion toward man. Originating from the Latin, compassion has two parts – pati and cum, which means “to suffer with”. God did not choose Maria for what she could offer in terms of the good elements of the birth of the Messiah. She was especially chosen because of her ability to share in his suffering, albeit at a distance (Mark 15:40). She is there throughout it all – anxiously searching for Him when He had remained behind in the temple (Luke 2:48), at the crucifixion (John 19:25), at His grave (Matt 27:61), uniting with the apostles in prayer (Acts 1:14) for the outpouring of the Spirit, always there, demonstrating solidarity and compassion. Eybers is correct in calling her a “woman of sorrows” – she certainly suffered with Christ. The gospel of the Kingdom of God offers no “easy enterprise”. It is all or nothing – either Christ is made manifest within you, as in Maria, or not – “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (Gal 4:19). We must become “partakers of the suffering” (2 Cor 1:7), so “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil 3:10). And this happens inasmuch as we have done this to the least of the brethren (Matt 25:40).
- Sela: What is the practical implication of this teaching for your life? Also see Isa 59:9 (KJV).
- Read: 2 Chr 9; Job 7; Rev 11
- Memorise: Rev 11:15
- For a deeper understanding: Read Henri Nouwen’s book
