Jesus’ Compassion: The Heart of Missional LivingNäide

Day #8: Luke 7:11–17

Turning our attention to Luke’s telling of Jesus’ story, we find Jesus once again moved with compassion (Luke 7:13). This time, the object of his compassion is not someone who has begged for mercy. In fact, there’s no indication that this person is even aware of Jesus’ presence in her town, much less of his identity or reputation. This time, we see clearly that the compassion of Jesus is thoroughly before the expression of human need; it is a fundamental aspect of who he is that flows from him toward human beings who are suffering.

Luke tells this story in a way that highlights the double loss of this woman and the profound experience of restoration that Jesus’ compassion brings. She is a widow—loss #1. But now she has also lost her only son. In the cultural context of her day, she not only faces the relational grief of being alone but also confronts the existential threat of her aloneness. Widows without male providers were at extreme risk of life-threatening poverty. Her tears almost certainly flow out of fear as much as from grief. Jesus’ compassionate heart is moved by her situation, with all its ramifications. Luke sums this up nicely with his post-miracle commentary: “Jesus gave him back to his mother” (v. 15). Being restored to life was undoubtedly a gift of grace to the young man, but Jesus’ eye is on what it will mean to the widowed mother. And while the crowd reacts to the miraculous event (v. 16), this woman surely experiences the miracle as a tangible expression of Jesus’ deep compassion toward her.

In the very next episode (Luke 7:18–23), when some of John the Baptist’s followers come questioning who Jesus is, he gives them this clear and resounding answer: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them” (v. 22, NRSV). In Jesus’ compassionate interaction with the widow—raising the dead, bringing good news to the desperately poor—his identity is clearly proclaimed.