Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues,
preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them,
because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Matthew 9:35-38
All through the New Testament we see Jesus having compassion on people. Because it comes up so
often in the gospels, I have been thinking it may be a good quality to have in my character. As cliché as is
sounds, we are suppose to be strive towards being like Christ. The word compassion is defined as “to have pity;
feelings of distress due to others ills.” In other words, we could say compassion is to become sick with passion for
other people.
We often have an image of Jesus walking around town with his shepherd’s staff in one hand and a little
lamb in the other. I don’t know about you but I do not have time to cuddle sheep all day. And I don’t think Jesus
did, either. Church historians have painted images for us of Jesus to emphasize different parts of his personality
and they are interesting, but not that realistic. For instance, Jesus was not vocationally a shepherd; he was a
carpenter. The picture is helpful for understanding the shepherding aspect of Jesus’ ministry, which is completely
accurate, but the truth is he probably never carried actual sheep around. The point is that if we aren’t careful, we
can totally dehumanize Jesus altogether—and that is certainly not realistic.
Jesus was fully human. Humans are very emotional. And I believe Jesus was very emotional. The
scriptures indicate that he felt every emotion we feel. Now granted, he dealt with his feelings without sin (not
typically a human characteristic), but he was nonetheless fully capable of feeling.
In Matthew chapter 14 we see a story of Jesus’ childhood friend being brutally murdered. He is
imprisoned and beheaded by Herod in a sick scene that could have come from a horror film. When Jesus hears
the news, he feels grief. He withdraws by himself from the crowds that he was ministering to so he could grieve.
But the people did not allow him to be alone. They followed him. So in verse 14 we read this: “When Jesus
landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”
What is this? Jesus finds himself in need of compassion, and he shows compassion. He is filled with grief
but fueled by love. It seems to me that the feelings of distress Jesus felt for others were greater than the distress
he felt for himself. Now I understand that even on our best day we may not be able to show compassion like
Jesus. But with God’s hand of grace we can show more compassion for others than we usually do. It is an issue
of our hearts that must be changed.
For many years I struggled with a hard heart. For me it was a result of insecurity and disappointment. I
couldn’t feel compassion for others because my heart was broken. But when Jesus healed my hard heart I could
feel again. I could have compassion on other people.
In Matthew chapter 9 Jesus noticed the people were in need of a shepherd because they were lost. How
many people do you know who are lost? Don’t tune the word out or think about it in the typical churchy sense of
the lost or unconverted as the opposite of the saved or Christian. Think about what the word means: you were
headed somewhere and for whatever reasons you got off track; you found yourself in a strange place with no
clue where you were and no idea how to get back on track to where you were headed. Many of your friends have
gotten lost in their faith, their relationships, their finances, their health, and their calling. They are in need of a
shepherd. They need leadership. But you cannot lead them until you learn to love them.
As a pastor (a word that literally means “shepherd” in Greek), I know that it is impossible to shepherd
without compassion. It is impossible to have compassion without love. And it is impossible to have love without
the healing power of Jesus. So really, we don’t have a choice. We must be healed so we can lead. We must ask
Jesus to help us become passionate so we can be compassionate.
Copyright © 2009 Joshua Stump
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 10:26 am. You can follow any responses to this through the feed.