Although not a particularly new thought for me, its realization I almost always find refreshing and new:
In 2 Corinthians Chapter 1, the Apostle Paul wrote of “comfort”/ “consolation”/ “encouragement”/ “exhortation” using the one Greek word, παράκλησις, rightly translated by those four English words. This Greek word, as a verb, literally means: “to call beside,” which is very near its classical Greek definition: “a calling to one’s aid” or “an appeal.”[1] In its New Testament usage, it much more strongly conveys the nuanced understanding of “comfort” and “encouragement,” and is the very word Jesus used, when speaking of the One who would come after Him: the Paraclete.[2]
At any rate, in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, within five verses ten times Paul employed the word, παράκλησις. From these verses, essentially his thought is that of verse 4:
[The God of comfort] comforts us in our every tribulation, in order that we may be able to comfort those in every tribulation with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
Of course for Paul, this gleaned thought always has in view the suffering and tribulations of Christ Jesus, not only those upon the Cross, but His sufferings for the world – Paul’s and ours.
Paul recognized a profound inter-connection: Given that the Cross of Christ means comfort/ consolation for the follower of Christ; and given that the believer, like Paul, can experience the comfort of Christ during moments of stress and strain, trial and tribulation, then such comfort, like a wellspring, can comfort others experiencing similar traumas.
In the past few days, I have received great encouragement from two separated from me by great distances: the one in Massachusetts, the other in Malawi. Because of their wise comfort and encouragement, I have been encouraged, whereby I have been able to encourage one close at hand, as well as ones in Romania and the Philippines. To be comforted/ encouraged provides the basis for comforting and encouraging others – which does not mean that we are then able to pontificate, telling others what to do amid their moments of dejection and/or crisis. Rather, it means that we have the heart-experience to listen, and, if necessary, to suffer and cry with them, knowing that much suffering is inexplicable – like the havoc wrought by hurricanes.
My point: if we have known the comfort and love of God, may we share these with those in need.
Hopefully,
Stan
[1] Liddell and Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), p.1313.
[2] Cf. John 14:16, 26.