08 25 08 Compassion

“As he got out he saw the large crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”
(Matthew 14:14 NET)

Webster defines compassion as a sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it (from Latin com- + pati: to bear, suffer). The Greek word used here (esplagcnisyh) in Matthew refers to be deeply moved with compassion, even to the bowels or what was referred to as heart of sincere passion, love and pity). This is the same compassion Jesus felt for a mother who lost her only son.

“When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’” (Luke 7:13)

He then brought her son back to life. It’s the same COMPASSION the Samaritan had for the beaten man he saw along the path (Luke 10) and the same heart-wrenching emotion the father felt toward his prodigal son in Luke 15.

How often are deeply moved, to the point of a gut-wrenching and sincere desire to alleviate someone’s pain or distress? Have we become so desensitized by all the graphic visions we see on the news and in the movies that we have become numb to the point of being passion-less? Are we willing to become personally involved in meeting needs as Jesus was? Are we willing to put aside prejudices, convenience, and comfort? Are we willing to do without so others may have some basic needs?

In our work with those at-risk, whether at-risk to lose a home, lose a child, lose a marriage, or worse, we have found very few who would abandon it all to help. The Mother Teresa’s and John Perkins’ of our day are few and far between. I have met some along the way, but many are not willing to feel such COMPASSION as to literally get sick over the many challenges, injustices, and the pain many of our children and families face today. Not many are willing to sacrifice the comforts of their life to alleviate the pain others experience.

It’s REAL! But until we face it ourselves, it remains somewhat Hollywood. Until we experience hunger pains, divorce, physical abuse, rape, unwed pregnancies, job loss, losing a home, foreclosure threats, or depression, it’s really not an experience. It’s a neighborhood problem or a community project. This has to change. It takes more than a few dollars or a few minutes a week. It takes COMPASSION…gut-wrenching, exhaustive, sweat, tears, sacrificial, and at times painful COMPASSION.

Are we willing to have the COMPASSION of Jesus, of the Samaritan, of the prodigal’s father, of the few today who are willing to invest a life to save other lives…for Christ’s sake? It’s what the CHRISTian is called to do. Paul pleaded with those to whom he wrote to be imitators of both him and Christ (1 Corinthians 4:16; 1 Cor. 11:1; Eph. 5:1). COMPASSION should underscore a believer’s life!