5TH JULY 2022
COMPASSIONATE
Compassion! compassionate people! Compassionate Christ! Compassion towards others reveals a strength of character that few people possess! You see, we live in a compassion-less world. Most people place themselves and their family above any other consideration in the world. The sad reality is that most people simply do not care what happens to others! They do not possess compassion. In fact, I would venture to say that most people don’t even know what it means to have compassion!
The word compassion, as it is used in the Bible means, “To be moved inwardly; to yearn with tender mercy, affection, pity and empathy.” It refers to 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.” 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.” A brief study of the gospels reveals the truth that His compassion knew no boundaries. Jesus felt the need of all classes and kind of people. In our gospel today, He Feels Compassion for The Scattered Ones - Matt. 9:36.
Why was Jesus able to do this to so many different kinds of people in so many different settings and situations? Because Jesus, even though He knew all their faults, did not let that get in the way of His compassion and expression of love! He did not look just at that which was apparent on the surface, He was able to look at these people and see their deepest need! He loved them at the deepest level of His being, as a result, He was never impatient with them or offended by their needs.
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. What we need to learn is to look past a person’s exterior to see them as they really are. We must see their needs before we can express compassion to them! May we learn to see them as Jesus does! May we be Compassionate Christians. Remember, compassion is more than feeling sorry for someone. It is more than pity. Compassion is a desire to reach out and make a difference in the life of someone else. In truth, compassion is a desire to be Christ to someone
else!
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