Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 136 - The Responsibilities and tests of Leadership - compassion, indignation, and sorrow.Title: Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 136 - The Responsibilities and tests of Leadership - compassion, indignation, and sorrow.
Announcements / opening prayer:
Compassion flows from agape love.
Self-sacrificing love is the essence of the Christian life.
Joh 15:9 "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
Joh 15:10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love.
Joh 15:11 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
Joh 15:12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
Joh 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
Joh 15:14 "You are My friends, if you do what I command you.
This was His burden of leadership - self-sacrificial love, and in a much smaller way, it is the burden of all Christian leadership. The shepherd must also protect the sheep and so stand firmly against evil, holding ground wearing the full armor of God, and at the proper time, indignant at the evil that burdens the sheep.
Indignation cannot be lacking in the presence of evil.
Eph 4:26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
Anger goes along with this, but we will be careful with the word since such a great amount of sinful anger exists in this world. The sly sin nature will attempt to take this doctrine and twist it into a form of self-justification for human sinful anger. If you have a tendency towards sinful anger, then be very careful here.
We should not be surprised to find in the gospel narratives the stirring of anger and indignation in our Lord.
Jesus was filled with indignant anger at the insensibility of the Jews to human suffering and instead exalting ritual integrity.
Mar 3:1 And He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there with a withered hand.
Mar 3:2 And they were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, in order that they might accuse Him.
Mar 3:3 And He said to the man with the withered hand, "Rise and come forward!"
Mar 3:4 And He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent [they are not there learn anything].
Mar 3:5 And after looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
We would well ask if his grief was a sort of sympathy for men sunk in such a miserable condition, and though there may have been some of that within Him, the context reveals that Jesus' grief was at the spectacle of their hardness of heart that produced in Him a deep dissatisfaction.
Anger always has pain at its root. The hardness of heart in the leaders of Israel cause Jesus pain within at the sight of man's inhumanity to man.
The leaders of Israel had all the opportunities to relieve the burdens of Israel but instead, motivated by greed for wealth and power, they added to Israel's burdens, which is evidenced in the case of this one man with a withered hand who was used by them for the sport of their wickedness.
Luk 11:46 "Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers."
Jesus expresses indignation at the inhumanity of His disciples. No matter how well meant, their misunderstanding makes them lack compassion.
The brief time of rest and quiet converse with His disciples in the retirement of Ephraim was past, and the Savior of men prepared for His last journey to Jerusalem.
Looking at Matthew's and Luke's accounts it is probable that on the way, Jesus made a very brief detour through the southern region of Galilee in order to meet up with those who were to accompany Him to Jerusalem. The whole company would then form one of the festive bands which travelled to the Passover feast. This was a common sight. Matthew and Mark furnish us with the fact that great multitudes followed Him and He both taught them and healed them.
He is probably in a house and after having just taught His disciples about divorce.
Mar 10:13 And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them [and pray - Mat 19:13]; and the disciples rebuked them.
We can judge from the reaction of the disciples that such a thing would have been beneath the dignity of a Rabbi. These mothers believed in the power and holiness of Jesus' touch and prayer. It's difficult to come by reliable data for infant sickness and mortality at the time, but we can assume that it was very high compared to our day.
Mar 10:14 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant [irritated or annoyed] and said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Mar 10:15 "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all."
Mar 10:16 And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands upon them.
At the tomb of Lazarus we again find our Lord filled with indignation.
The whole party of festive followers have now reached Bethany, just two miles outside of Jerusalem. On the way there has been much teaching and many miracles, and there has also been quite a few intrusions by the Pharisees and Sadducees designed to attack and trap Him. Who could have imagined that He would reveal His absolute power over death and the one who had power over death as He does here?
Lazarus was in Abraham's bosom, but in the earth none the less and Satan likely laid claim to all there as his prisoners.
Joh 11:32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."
Joh 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her, also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled,
"deeply moved" - moved with indignation [margin of the RV].
Joseph Thayer defines it as being very angry or to be moved with indignation. Other good lexicons prefer the definition of "moved" as they don't see Christ as being indignant in this situation, yet compared with the other passages in which He reveals His righteous anger, we can come to understand why He was moved with inner ire.
He was filled with indignation within, but John reveals to us that it remained within and was not externalized.
What made for this indignation of spirit was the wailing [Greek: klaio] of Mary and the Jews. It cannot be that He was indignant at their weeping, for He Himself wept at the sight of it all, though the word used for Jesus' weeping is not a loud cry but a much milder weeping of tears.
Joh 11:34 and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."
Joh 11:35 Jesus wept.
Joh 11:36 And so the Jews were saying, "Behold how He loved him!"
Joh 11:37 But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have kept this man also from dying?"
Joh 11:38 Jesus therefore again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
The same word is used. He is not moved within but indignant within. Mentioned twice, we have to understand that it's an important part of the incident.
The spectacle of the distress of Mary and the others filled Jesus with indignation because it put a spotlight on the tyranny of death, which to the Creator of life, sees it as an unnatural invasion of His divine will.
Satan has the power over death and before Jesus, the leader of mankind come to deliver man from death, He sees the clear results of it and finds Himself wonderfully and righteously indignant towards it.
Heb 2:14 Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. |