A New Devotion - Compassion

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

Matthew 15:29-39

After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way." The disciples said to him, "Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?" Jesus asked them, "How many loaves have you?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish." Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children. After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

Compassion

I think this passage reminds us that Jesus was motivated by compassion for others, particularly those who were vulnerable. For example, he cured the lame and the maimed, the blind and the mute. And when he saw that the crowd was hungry, he fed them. You see, throughout his ministry, Jesus sought to address human need. But you know, what made it really interesting, Jesus offered this help based on the need itself and not the quality of the needy person. In other words, he didn’t help those who had said or done something that earned his attention. Instead, he enabled the mute to speak and the blind to see, because they were mute and blind. And he made the maimed whole because they’d been maimed. And he empowered the lame to walk and the hungry to eat because they were lame and hungry. You see, for Jesus, the need motivated the response.

And that’s the way it can be for us. Although our world is very keen on separating those who deserve help from those who don’t, maybe we should follow this pattern set by Christ and address as many needs as we can. Of course, I recognize that we lack to the means and the power to solve all problems and address all pain. Still, we can work together to help as many as we can simply because it’s the right and Godly thing to do. You see, rather than choosing to be selective, we can follow the example of Jesus and let our compassion flow.

A New Devotion - What Jesus Said

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

Mark 8:1-9

In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way - and some of them have come from a great distance." His disciples replied, "How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?" He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.

What Jesus Said

Personally, I think there’s a lot going on in this passage. First, there’s the miracle itself. I mean, we’ve got 4,000 people being fed with seven loaves and a few fish. And second, there’s the symbolic importance of the numbers, you like, the seven loaves and the seven baskets of leftovers. And third, there’s all the communion imagery, you know, when Jesus blessed the bread and fish and sent his disciples to distribute them to the crowd. Now all that happens, and generally we focus on these parts to the story.

And even though that can certainly be expected, we don’t want to overlook what Jesus said to his disciples before the miracle occurred. He said, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way - and some of them have come from a great distance." Of course, I think you could say this is Jesus just being Jesus. My gosh, having compassion was part of both his character and ministry.

But I think that’s something we need intentionally to remember, particularly now as we all face a pandemic no one could have predicted last year this time. You see, during this period of crisis, we need to draw together and support one another. But there are people who are at greater risk than others and some who have greater needs. And as we consider them, I think we should remember what Jesus said to his disciples. In other words, if we’re sincere about following the words Christ, we also need to have compassion for the crowd as well.