compassion - compassion - compassion
Mark 8New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand
8 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 ¡°I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.¡±
4 His disciples answered, ¡°But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?¡±
5 ¡°How many loaves do you have?¡± Jesus asked.
¡°Seven,¡± they replied.
6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.9 About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away, 10 he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
Every Generation looks for a sign ¨C some of the signs giving on television are in advertising.
One cigarette company years ago advertised their cigarettes as curing athsma or at least helping with it. Truth is cigarette smoking helps to cause Athsma. Or what about those hamburger Advertisements from the big chains that advertise culinary delights but in effect provide something much less.
We have been accustomed to exaggeration
In Titus chapter 1 we read of God 1Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ in service of the faith of God¡¯s elect and of their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, 2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie,promised before time began.
It not only says that God does not lie it says he can not lie. In other words it is impossible for him to reverse his own character.
When God¡¯s truth is revealed amazing things happen.
In 1858 revivalist Jeremiah Meneely brought his preaching to Belfast, Ireland. He talked about repentance, reform, and committing yourself to the Lord. The men there worked in a shipyard and were so convicted of their sins, they repented and began to return the tools they had pilfered during the previous years. The response was so complete the shipyard had to build extra sheds to take in all of the returned tools! Eventually, the management asked that there be no further returns of stolen property! You know the Holy Spirit is working in a community when people start living like real Christians and make tangible changes in their lives. This is the fruit of the real gospel.
So in Mark chapter 8 when we read that Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 ¡°I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.¡± When we read that we can be sure that the compassion of Jesus was absolutely genuine.
This Greek word compassion Cognate: 4697 splagxn¨ªzomai ¨C "from splanxna, 'the inward parts,' especially the nobler entrails ¨C the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. These gradually came to denote the seat of the affections" (WS, 111).See 4698 (splangxnon).
Ever feel no one cares no one really minds what happens to you.
I believe this simple word compassion in this passage makes that thought invalid.
Jesus models compassion for us and we can learn how to express compassion most faithfully by observing him carefully.
Mark 8:2-3
"I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now 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."
Jesus sees a need. In fact his followers desire to hear his teaching has created that need.
Jesus compassion for the practical needs of people sinks deeply into the core of his being. splagxn¨ªzomai into his heart and the very core of his being. There is an urgency here a deep felt concern at his peoples needs. Mark 8:2-3
"I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now 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."
This affects us at two levels ¨C
1. We can know that when we have real practical needs ¨C Jesus feels very deeply our need. He is concerned. About our needs and hears our prayers for help when we can¡¯t feed our family or pay the bills or whatever. Jesus not only feels it he feels it to the very core.
2. If we are to have God¡¯s heart we need to feel our fellow human beings deepest concerns and needs.
To simplify that we can say Jesus is compassionate about our needs and expects us to be compassionate about the needs of others.
There¡¯s a story about Dr. Benjamin Warfield.
iii. While he was still at the height of his academic powers, his wife got sick. In fact it happened on their honeymoon.
iv. The newlyweds travelled to Germany and were hiking on top of a mountain when Mrs. Warfield was struck by lightning and she became an invalid. He took care of her the rest of her life and it was reported he rarely (although some have said never) spent more than 2 hours away from his wife. Even though she was handicapped, she still loved to read. And so Dr. Warfield would sit at her bedside day after day. And read to her. He was always gentle and caring with her. One day, someone asked him, "Have you ever thought about taking your wife to an institution?" Then you could write bigger books and have a bigger ministry." But Dr. Warfield said, "No way. My wife is my ministry. I will never leave her side. I am going to love her and take care of her as long as God grants us life."
v. Maybe that¡¯s what makes Warfield¡¯s career as a theologian and thinker even more impressive?
vi. It was during this time he wrote books and continues to teach.
d. One of Warfield¡¯s most important book is called ¡°The Person and Work of Christ¡±
i. There is a chapter in that book is entitled, ¡°The Emotional Life of Our Lord.¡±
ii. He tried to synthesize the biblical passages that spoke of the emotions of our Lord Jesus.
iii. He stated, ¡°His whole life was a mission of mercy...His entire ministry is summed up as going around the land and ¡®doing good.¡¯¡±
iv. The world that best summarizes Jesus our Lord is no doubt the word ¡°compassion.¡± It is the emotion most frequently attributed to Him.
v. Personally, I prefer the synonym ¡°pity.¡± He went around and felt pity on people.
vi. He pities and relives the miseries of His people.
Such compassion comes from the very depths of the person. I like the passage in . In the 14th chapter of Matthew and 14th verse, we find these words: "And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion towards them, and he healed their sick."
¡°Some people care too much. I think it's called love.¡±
¨D A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
The second thing about Jesus¡¯ compassion is that he takes responsibility for the need in front of him.Jesus is Willing to be involved.
The theme that he outlines in the good Samaritan is lived out in Mark chapter 8 = Jesus is faced with an apparently impossible situation. 8 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 ¡°I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.¡±
4 His disciples answered, ¡°But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?¡±
5 ¡°How many loaves do you have?¡± Jesus asked.
The normal response would be I don¡¯t have enough ¨C in fact my secret though could well be this food is for me let them find their own. Not so with Jesus. No secret store here = ¡°How many loaves do you have?¡± asks Jesus.
5 ¡°How many loaves do you have?¡± Jesus asked.
¡°Seven,¡± they replied.
6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.9 About four thousand were present.
How does Jesus express compassion with an impossible need before him?
He takes what he has ¨C he gives thanks to God for His provision ¨C and then distributes all he has to the four thousand hungry people. The rest is up to God.
How often do we hold back? Jesus gives everything. The miracle of multiplication happens ¨C seven loaves turns into seven basketfuls of left overs yet everyone has enough to eat. God is a God of multiplication. Many people might say why doesn¡¯t God act like that today? God might answer because you don¡¯t give away your all!!!
Who is willing to give their all ¨C Compassion involves willingness
When jesus sees a leper he risks the scorn of his society but he is willing. Matthew 8:3
Verse Concepts
Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Thirdly The compassion of Jesus stretches beyond the immediate and the visible to the deepest needs. His compassion has eternity in mind.
It is not shallow like this story It was young love. He wrote her a letter, trying to capture a poetic expression of how much she meant to him. He wrote, ¡°For you, I would cross the hottest, driest desert. I would swim the deepest ocean and brave the wildest storm. I would climb the heights of Everest such is the depth of my love for you.
PS. I won¡¯t be over this Saturday. The forecast is calling for snow!¡±
Here in a sense we need to go beyond the feeding of the 4000. By the time we get to the end of Mark chapter 8 we read Jesus Predicts His Death
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
The compassion of Jesus is nothing more than an extension of the heart of the Father. Goethe the German Philosopher once said, ¡° If I were God, this world of sin and suffering would break my heart.¡± Jesus not only gives all he has physically but he gives his very self his life and lies them down for the sin of the world. Literally you can not ghive more than that. I am reading a book of Billy Grahams sermons at the moment and oh how profound they are. He was talking about the importance of blood Graham says¡± When I get to the entrance to the kingdom of heaven and they ask me the password, do you know what I¡¯m going to answer? Im not going to say, ¡°Lord I preached to great crowds of people.¡± I¡¯m not going to say, ¡°Lord, I read the Bible right through.¡± I¡¯m not going to say, ¡°Lord< I was married to a wonderful Christian Woman, I¡¯m coming in on her good works. ¡°
I¡¯m going to say, ¡°Lord< I plead the blood, for the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin.¡±
Compassion To jesus is written in red.
It comes from his deepest being and he stretches out through history and dies in your place and that is how deep his compassion is for you and for me.
But there is an action point here. He wants us to be conveyers of that message to all of humanity. Just as he lay down his life for us he calls us to lay down our lives for our friends. And he asks us to do that continually.
Dr. Paul Brand: "In His Image." He wrote that when his mother was 75 years old, she was still walking miles every day, visiting the villages in the southern part of India, teaching the people about Jesus.
One day, at age 75, she was traveling alone and fell and broke her hip. After two days of just lying there in pain, some workers found her and put her on a makeshift cot and loaded her into their jeep and drove 150 miles over deep rutted roads to find a doctor who could set the broken bones. But the very bumpy ride damaged her bones so badly that her hip never completely healed.
He said, "I visited my mother in her mud-covered hut several weeks after all of this happened. I watched as she took two bamboo crutches that she had made herself, and moved from one place to another with her feet just dragging behind because she had lost all feeling in them."
"At age 75, with a broken hip, unable to stand on her own two legs, I thought that I made a pretty intelligent suggestion. I suggested that she retire."
"She turned around and looked at me and said, `What value is that? If we try to preserve this body just a few more years and it is not being used for God, of what value is that?¡¯"
So she kept on working. She kept on riding her donkey to villages until she was 93 years old. At age 93 she couldn¡¯t stay on her donkey anymore. She kept falling off. But she didn¡¯t stop serving God. Indian men would carry her in hammocks from one village to another. And she continued to tell people about Jesus Christ until she died at age 95.
The Way of the Cross
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said:¡°Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[b] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father¡¯s glory with the holy angels.¡±
