Becoming Like JesusSample

Compassion

What emotion do you think Jesus most frequently demonstrated in Scripture? The theologian, B.B. Warfield, took a comprehensive look at every recorded instance in the gospels that show the emotions of Christ and concluded that the most typical statement of His emotional life was “he was moved with compassion.” Today, as we continue to look at our foundational passage, we will explore compassion.

“Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with compassion…” Colossians 3:12

In Mark 6, we see the familiar story of Jesus feeding the 5000. Many of us know the basics of this miracle:

• Jesus taught the multitudes late into the day.

• The disciples suggested he release the people so they could go eat.

• Jesus asks what food the disciples had to offer the people.

• They brought Him five loaves and two fish.

• He fed over 5000 men (and likely closer to 10,000 people including, women and children) with that small amount of food.

In this miracle, we see Jesus meeting the people’s spiritual needs (He taught them), as well as their physical needs (He fed them). Why did He do this? Let’s look at what happened right before this miracle.

Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. But many people recognized them and saw them departing, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Jesus saw them. He recognized a need. He had compassion. And He acted in response to their need.

The word compassion means “sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.” While this may simply seem like an emotional response, there is an active aspect to biblical compassion. If we were to scour the gospels, we would see that when Jesus had compassion, it moved him to action. We see this very principle at work in James 2 when the writer says, “faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.”

Jesus modeled for us what it looks like to have biblical compassion. We see others. We recognize their needs. We feel concerned for their plight. And we do something about it. As one quote says, “Compassion without action is just observation.”

Today, I pray we will have eyes to see those around us, the heart to enter into their suffering, and the compassion to be the hands and feet of Jesus in their lives.