The Rev. Dr. Joanne S. Martindale
First Presbyterian Church Napa
Newsletter # 12
August 25, 2020
Dear Friends –
In John 11 we read:
When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep.
Jesus was “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” And, in moving toward Lazarus’ tomb, “Jesus began to weep.” I want us to take this fully to heart, Jesus’ compassion for an individual life, because it comes after Jesus already said Lazarus would rise again. When Martha clarifies this by saying that she does believe in the resurrection of the dead, Jesus directs her back to him right then and there. It’s not just a general belief: Jesus is saying “ok, but I am the resurrection and the life.”
Jesus wept over Lazarus’ death after he said he would rise again and before he raised him from the dead.
Jesus, the one who is the resurrection, and was about to perform it, cried over the death of one person. This one life, Lazarus’ life, mattered deeply even though he would be resurrected in just a few moments.
We are disciples of Jesus, learning from him in order to become like him. It makes sense, then that along with hope in the resurrection we would be grieved by the deaths of individual people. We might think, “yes, but only by those we know.” This makes sense to a degree, but doesn’t take into account that for Jesus, the grief is for each person and everyone. And even if we are not personally grieved, each life matters to Jesus (who came for the salvation of all), so every single life should matter to us.
Which means that every one of the 601,075 (and counting) deaths in the United States over the past many months from COVID-19 is an individual life that we are called by Jesus to care about. Each day, when we see the statistics, we are seeing more families and friends who are experiencing fresh grief.
So are we compassionate each day? Are our prayers full of compassion and requests for healing and a vaccine? Or full of imploring God that each person dying isolated from others, unable to breathe, be surrounded by the consolation of our all-merciful God?
As Christians, disciples of Jesus, are we greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved?
I wonder how Christ’s church in the United States might learn to be as compassionate as Jesus Christ, to value and grieve over each life alongside our hope in the resurrection. Romans 12:
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
2 Corinthians 1:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us all in our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
News from First Presbyterian Church Napa
Our Office Manager Fransine Villasenor has begun. Please take this time to welcome her, either over the phone or through an email. We want her to be warmly welcomed.
Email: officemanager@fpcnapa.org Phone:(707)224-8693 Ext 102
Many blessings, you are loved!
Pastor Joanne
