Compassion

Zechariah 7:9 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.’”

Often we study the bible in passages, or stories that are sectioned off by the editors.  This sectioning is helpful to the reader, and helps to identify separate incidents and unify them in the readers’ minds.  Sometimes, however, it is important to tie the separate incidents together.  Such is the case in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 14.  In this chapter are two very familiar stories:  One, the beheading of John the Baptist; two, the feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish.  Each of these stories, taken separately, has an important message for every one of us and should be read and studied carefully.  But when the stories are tied together, there is yet another message for us in scripture.

Listen to what is said at the end of the story of John’s beheading: “John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it.  Then they went and told Jesus” (Matt. 14:12 NIV).  Can you imagine how Jesus must have felt?  His cousin, a young man in his early thirties, had just died horrible death.  What a gruesome scene that would have been at the palace, with Herodias’s daughter triumphantly carrying John’s bloodied head on a platter to her mother.  What grief must have filled Jesus’ heart.  Matthew 14:13, the beginning of the next story, hints at his grief: “When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.”  Surely, Jesus desired some time alone at this difficult moment in his young life.  But he was not to find his solitude.  “Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick” (13b, 14).

I cannot imagine His depth of compassion for these people.  In his time of grief, needing so desperately to be alone, he turned to a large crowd of people, all apparently oblivious to his grief, and during his time of need, he ministered to their needs.  He apparently spent much time healing people in the crowd, for as evening approached, the disciples wanted to send the crowd away to buy themselves some food.  Once again, we glimpse Jesus’ compassion, for he “replied, ‘They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat’” (16).  It would have been perfectly logical for Jesus to send them away so they could eat and he could grieve.  But, once again, his compassion was far greater than his needs.  He multiplied their meager supplies so that everyone could eat his fill, with twelve basketfuls left over!  After everyone had eaten and the leftovers had been gathered up, Jesus sent his disciples across the lake on a boat, dismissed the crowd, and “went up on a mountainside by himself to pray” (23).  In his time of grief and fatigue, Jesus turned to his father in prayer and solitude only after the needs of strangers were met.

I don’t know why this illustration of His compassion should surprise and move me.  For I know a far greater example of compassion toward the sinful human race.  His compassion is so boundless, he not only relinquished his time to mourn for his cousin, He willingly gave up his life, at the very young age of 33, for sinners like you and me.

Lord, Your compassion humbles me.  Only God could put others’ needs ahead of His.  Only God would take the punishment for a sinful human race.  Lord, if only we had even a small measure of compassion, what amazing feats would be accomplished in Your name.

Psalm 34:15 “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry.”