Compassion

As I reflected this morning I began to consider what characteristic of Jesus stands out the most to me.  It is difficult as Jesus is reflected throughout the Bible in so many ways.  However, the most striking for me has always been His compassion.  Jesus was very compassionate.

How do we know Jesus was compassionate?  The Bible defines God as being compassionate.  Psalm 86:15, 111:4, 112:4, and 145:8 all directly say the Lord is full of compassion.  Jesus said in John 14:7, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also”.  Jesus told Philip when he asked Him to show them the Father, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).  Further, Jesus told the demon-possessed man in Mark 5:19 to “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.”  Therefore, if God is compassionate, Jesus is compassionate.

We are also told directly that Jesus had compassion.  He had compassion for their physical (medical) condition.  “Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed’” (Mark 1:41).  “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14).  He had compassion for their hunger.  “Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, ‘I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way’” (Matthew 15:32). 

Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33) indicating how we are to also be compassionate one to another’s physical needs.  One writer defined that compassion will feel the pain and plight of others.  It will enable us to convey a deep feeling of love and concern that moves us to meet their distresses, struggles, and needs.  I get that.  It should be inside of us to feel the pain and hurt in others.  We are often overwhelmed at what to do to help.  Too often we stand completely frustrated by our inability to help another.  We do not wish for others to be hungry, to go through heart-break especially alone, to lose a child or loved one, or to be deeply hurt physically or emotionally by other people. 

As important as this is, I think there is a greater compassion in God and Jesus.  I believe He had the most compassion for our spiritual depravity in sin.  “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).  Jesus’ single purpose was not to heal people physically and it was not to perform miracles.  It was to make a way for all of us to know God.  His whole physical life in this world was to serve us by providing a way for us to commune with God.  He suffered for it.  He wept over it.  He distressed over the cost. 

Jesus told the story of the compassionate father with the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:20).  His purpose was His Father’s compassion on us as sinners with no rescue.  A people with no shepherd needing a way, His way, to find Him.  I get that also.  I need rescuing.  I need people who will show me more of Jesus.  I need people to show me when I’m not reflecting Him, when I’m not following Him.  I believe this to be the clear focal point of my Messiah.