And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. (Mat 14:14)
Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. (Mat 15:32)
So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him. (Mat 20:34)
And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. (Mar 1:41)
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. (Luk 7:13)
Compassion: A deep awareness and the feeling of the suffering or distress of another, coupled with a pity often including the desire to alleviate it.
The Lord Jesus Christ was a man of compassion when He walked the shores of Galilee. He still is, as He walks amongst His Church. I have not been able to fully understand or sense this trait of His. It is like grasping the air. We know, that having been birthed in His new image, given new hearts of flesh in place of our stony hearts, we really ought to have at least an inkling of His pulse beat and His passions. After all, do we not belong to His House, and do we not have the same Father; like father like son? Like our First Brother?
With the multitudes, three things moved Him and recorded in this order; their wanderings about without a shepherd, their need for healing, and strangely their need for basic food! In the first, I would wonder, since I can not exactly ‘feel’ the compassion for the people’s distress; was it their wandering or was it that there was no shepherd? Or was it both? Why does my heart not twitch like Him to know this distress in its magnitude? In the second, we know of those who live with dire need of healing, both physical and spiritual. My heart can sense their pain but I am unable to alleviate in any ‘real’ terms. We may offer prayer and supplication, and continue to struggle with the adequacy of our faith. The last premise of food is startling, given the apostles’ responses to the Lord when He made known His compassion. They complained, argued and disputed with the Lord Himself. They were probably tired and their own hunger pangs could well have shrouded their priorities. The issues of availability, costs, and the sheer number of mouths to feed merely made their representations more reasonable in their own eyes. They submitted that there was little that they could do! Even they, who lived and walked with the Master and had left all to follow Him, could not understand or share His deep compassion.
With the individuals, there are again three scenarios. They included the blind given sight, the leper being healed and cleansed, and the widow given back her dead son. There is a resonance in the first two, but the third is again off the main. The Lord was moved, so much by the woman’s loss and grief, that He would summon Himself to bring her son back, even from the dead. Oh how we lag in the throbbings and workings of His heart; that we can comprehend and emulate the empathy He possessed for the masses and the downcast, that He would condescend Himself, even as the Son of God, to be so agonized and resolved to apply and immerse Himself in other’s plight, to do something about it.
He has set us an example; how to live, how to walk, and how to love. He has taught us the meaning of submitting to His Father’s will.
Lord, that You will strengthen our minds, and then our hearts, to keep in step with You and faithfully bear Your Name. Teach us Your meaning of compassion.
God bless.
The Lord Jesus Christ was a man of compassion when He walked the shores of Galilee. He still is, as He walks amongst His Church. I have not been able to fully understand or sense this trait of His. It is like grasping the air. We know, that having been birthed in His new image, given new hearts of flesh in place of our stony hearts, we really ought to have at least an inkling of His pulse beat and His passions. After all, do we not belong to His House, and do we not have the same Father; like father like son? Like our First Brother?
With the multitudes, three things moved Him and recorded in this order; their wanderings about without a shepherd, their need for healing, and strangely their need for basic food! In the first, I would wonder, since I can not exactly ‘feel’ the compassion for the people’s distress; was it their wandering or was it that there was no shepherd? Or was it both? Why does my heart not twitch like Him to know this distress in its magnitude? In the second, we know of those who live with dire need of healing, both physical and spiritual. My heart can sense their pain but I am unable to alleviate in any ‘real’ terms. We may offer prayer and supplication, and continue to struggle with the adequacy of our faith. The last premise of food is startling, given the apostles’ responses to the Lord when He made known His compassion. They complained, argued and disputed with the Lord Himself. They were probably tired and their own hunger pangs could well have shrouded their priorities. The issues of availability, costs, and the sheer number of mouths to feed merely made their representations more reasonable in their own eyes. They submitted that there was little that they could do! Even they, who lived and walked with the Master and had left all to follow Him, could not understand or share His deep compassion.
With the individuals, there are again three scenarios. They included the blind given sight, the leper being healed and cleansed, and the widow given back her dead son. There is a resonance in the first two, but the third is again off the main. The Lord was moved, so much by the woman’s loss and grief, that He would summon Himself to bring her son back, even from the dead. Oh how we lag in the throbbings and workings of His heart; that we can comprehend and emulate the empathy He possessed for the masses and the downcast, that He would condescend Himself, even as the Son of God, to be so agonized and resolved to apply and immerse Himself in other’s plight, to do something about it.
He has set us an example; how to live, how to walk, and how to love. He has taught us the meaning of submitting to His Father’s will.
Lord, that You will strengthen our minds, and then our hearts, to keep in step with You and faithfully bear Your Name. Teach us Your meaning of compassion.
God bless.
/ckh
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