When that word “compassion” is used, I fear that many people don’t know what it means. Some people think of it as a weakness. A compassionate judge shouldn’t be sitting on the bench, and a compassionate doctor is so rare as to be some sort of medical shock treatment. Men especially are guilty of viewing compassion as something which weak and soft people. But in truth, expressing compassion towards others reveals a strength of character that few people possess! We live in a compassion-less world. Of course, most people place themselves and their families above any other consideration. Beyond this, most people simply do not care what happens to others!
The word, as it is used in the Bible means, “to be moved inwardly; to yearn with tender mercy, affection, pity and empathy.” It refers to one of the deepest possible feelings. The phrase, “moved with compassion” means to be moved in the “inner organs.” It has the same idea as our modern expression, “from the bottom of my heart.” In our day we speak of something coming from our hearts, but in ancient days and other cultures, our emotions proceed from our inner most bowels, perhaps “from the liver.”
Someone has defined compassion as “sympathy coupled with a desire to help.” Sympathy means ”the capacity to share feelings, to enter into the same feelings, to feel the same thing”. So, compassion is “sharing the feelings of others and possessing a desire to help them in their trouble.” Several places in the Bible, the word which we considered this morning – eleeo” (el-eh-eh’-o) is translated “compassion” rather than mercy.”
These blind men besought the Lord for mercy, and He bestowed compassion upon them. What motivated Jesus to be compassionate, and how we can become more compassionate ourselves. I don’t know about you, but I need all the help in this area that I can get. Too often, I am selfish and self-centered, but I want to be – I need to be – more like Jesus. Let’s look at “The Compassionate Christ” this evening and try to learn His secrets for caring about the needs of others.
What were the ORIGINS OF Jesus COMPASSION?
It originated in His essence. How could Jesus reach out to all the people He did? As part of the answer, ask yourself – Who is Jesus?. He is God in the flesh! As deity, Christ was not encumbered with a fallen nature. He is sinless. He is not selfish. He is not self-centered. He transcends all the faults and flaws that mark humanity!
Many people read the Old Testament and come away with the idea that God is mean, wrathful and harsh. I looked up the word “compassion” in ISBE – one of the standard Bible reference books. It says that, “compassion lay at the foundation of Israel’s faith in Jehovah. Nothing is more prominent in the Old Testament than the ascription of compassion, pity, and mercy to God. The people may be said to have gloried in it.” Over and over again we read in Old Testament statements like “the Lord, our God is full of compassion” – or “His compassions fail not.”
Where does Christ get His compassion? In a sense, He was born with it. It was a part of His divine nature. I read somewhere the story of a man who had fallen into a pit and couldn’t get himself out. A Christian Scientist came along and said, “You only think that you are in a pit.” A Pharisee said, “Only bad people fall into a pit.” A compassion-less Fundamentalist said, “You deserve your pit.” A Charismatic said, “Just confess that you’re not in a pit.” A Methodist came by and said, “Here, we brought you some food and clothing for your stay in that pit.” A Presbyterian said, “This was no accident, you know.” An optimist said, “Things could be worse.” A pessimist said, “Things will get worse!” But Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit. Isn’t that the essence of Christ’s parable of the Good Samaritan?
Another reason Christ was able to express such sympathy for others was His Own experiences in life. Jesus did not come into this world to enjoy an idyllic experience! The life He lived was difficult at best! He knew about poverty, about family death and tragedy, loneliness. As we have seen, He had experienced the highest forms of temptation. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” He will feel the highest levels of human pain, and perhaps He had already experienced some of that. There was some background behind the words “so Jesus had compassion on them.”
Upon whom?
I asked my computer to give me a summary of those scriptures which speak about Christ’s compassion. It provided quite a variety of people – all with similarities and yet with differences. Jesus is described as having compassion for people scattered and people sinning which is often a part of the scattering. Of He demonstrated compassion for the sick and suffering. But there was the same emotion for those who were seeking Him.
But how was it that Christ was able to do feel this way and to help these people who many times were wicked sinners? Apparently He didn’t let THAT get in the way of His compassion and expression of love! He overlooked the obvious and focused on needs. As I thought about that, I was tempted to say that HE could do it more easily than you and me, because He is God, but then it occurred to me that His holy deity should have made that even more difficult. Again, we are reminded that mercy and grace, compassion and love are a part of true deity.
But how do WE see people. We often base our evaluation of a person on what we see with our eyes or hear with our ears. I read of the experience of a New Yorker as he road home on the subway. While people were sitting quietly in the car, a man entered with three noisy and rambunctious children. The man sat down and closed his eyes, as though he was oblivious to his rowdy children. The once quiet subway car was now a disturbing place of chaos. The children’s inappropriate behavior was obvious to everyone, except their father. Finally, someone confronted the man about his children. He opened his eyes and evaluated the situation as if he had been totally unaware of things. “Oh, you’re right. I am so sorry. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital, where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.” Compassion starts when we begin to understand the needs of others.
Remember that Jesus’ first disciples had as much trouble as we have when it comes to this emotion. James and John wanted to call fire down from heaven to punish a Samaritan village that refused to receive Jesus – Luke 9:54. On another occasion the disciples wanted to send a hungry crowd away – still hungry. They didn’t really see the people or their problems. They were too caught up in the lives they were living. They had little recognition of the opportunity they had to glorify Christ, by showing a little concern for someone else. If it doesn’t touch our lives our the lives of our family and friends, then it is no affair of ours! Why are we that way? Why did Jesus have to teach His disciples about compassion and why do we still need the lessons today?
Obviously, the reason is that compassion is contrary to our fallen sinful nature. Sin is the reason that we are selfish and concerned only with ourselves! This morning, in talking to Bro. Bill, he defined love as something like – “the absence of self.” For most of us fallen sinners, that which does not touch US personally does not matter! A banker had just turned a man down for a loan, then made an unusual offer. He said to the man, “I have one good eye and one glass eye. If you can tell me which is which, I’ll approve your loan.” The man studied the banker for a moment, then said, “Your left eye is your good eye.” The banker was surprised. “That’s right,” he said.”How could you tell?” The man said, “I detected a hint of compassion in your glass eye.” Jesus had to instruct His disciples about compassion. Two of His best illustrations were the parable of the Good Samaritan and the parable of the Prodigal Son
Not only did Jesus have to teach His men about compassion, He wanted them to become involved in it. He wanted them to start seeing people as He saw them. He wanted them to be moved by the needs of others, enough to become involved.
You remember the scripture commonly called “the Golden Rule” – Matthew 7:12 – “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” Christ was NOT the first to say this sort of thing – other had been saying saying similar things for years – but with some differences. For example, the Hindus say: “This is the sum of duty: do naught to others which if done to thee would cause thee pain.” The Jewish faith says: “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow men. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.” The Buddhists say: “Hurt not others with that which pains yourself.” Greek Socrates said, “Do not do unto others what angers you if done to you by others.” They all sound similar don’t they? However, there is one major difference. All these are negative in nature, while the words of Jesus are positive. All those other religions warn men to withhold evil from others. They tell us what NOT to do. Jesus, on the other hand, tells us to be active in reaching to others in the same manner we would desire to be reached out to. There is a difference!
Perhaps you’ve heard this story before, but it’s cute and to the point. A businessman and his wife were busy to the point of exhaustion. They were committed to each other, their family, their church, their work, their friends. Needing a break, they escaped for a few days of relaxation at an oceanfront hotel. One night a violent storm lashed the beach and sent massive breakers thundering against the shore. The man lay in his bed listening and thinking about his own stormy life of never-ending demands and pressures. The wind finally died down and shortly before daybreak the man slipped out of bed and took a walk along the beach to see what damage had been done. As he strolled, he saw that the beach was covered with starfish that had been thrown ashore and helplessly stranded by the great waves. Once the morning sun burned through the clouds, the starfish would dry out and die. Then up ahead he saw a boy who had also noticed the plight of the starfish. The kid was picking them up, one at a time, and flinging them back into the sea. “Why are you doing that?” the man asked as he got close enough to be heard. “Can’t you see that you’ll never be able to get all those starfish back into the water. There are just too many.” “Yes, that’s true,” the boy sighed as he bent over and picked up and tossed another starfish. Then as he watched it sink, he looked at the man, and smiled, and said, “But it sure made a difference to that one.” Often, there is so much to do that it sometimes can seem overwhelming. But, any difference made in the life of another through our ministry of compassion will bear fruit to the glory of God!
I read this story a few years ago in one of the “Chicken Soup” books, but I ran across it again the other day. While walking home from school, a boy named Mark noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped everything he was carrying. Mark hurried to the boy’s side and helped him collect his belongings. Surprisingly, the boy was carrying an especially hefty load. There was a baseball glove and bat, a couple of sweaters, a small tape recorder, and an armful of books. Mark helped him carry the things home and his new friend, Bill, was most appreciative of his compassion. During the walk home, Mark discovered Bill was struggling in school; he’d lost a good friend and there were problems at home. When they arrived at Bill’s house, Mark was invited in for a Coke, and the boys spent the rest of the afternoon talking, laughing, and playing catch. Although they never became real close friends, they kept up with each other throughout the rest of junior high and high school. Several weeks before graduation, Bill approached Mark and asked him if he remembered that day they met when Mark helped him with all of his stuff. Mark nodded as he remembered. Bill then asked, “Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things that day?” Without pausing for an answer, Bill explained he had cleaned out his locker and was going home to kill himself. He had been stealing and storing away some of his mother’s sleeping pills and was going to take them all when Mark happened along to help him out. Bill told Mark how that simple act of compassion inspired him to go on living. He said, “Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you saved my life!”
Imagine how many times our small, seemingly insignificant gestures of concern may reignite the flame of life and inspire someone to continue on. Thankfully, compassion has a way of doing that. You never know what a little compassion will accomplish! Remember, compassion is more than feeling sorry for someone. It is more than pity. Compassion involves reaching out and making a difference in the life of someone else. Compassion is an expression of Christ – we see it here in Matthew 20.