Compassion Walked Among Us
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 NIV
Back when we lived in Oklahoma, my husband and I lived in Broken Arrow, on a beautiful house owned by our Pastors. This house’s purpose is to host missionaries from around the world, so we call it the “Mission House”. This was home for four years of our lives. One of my favorite things about this house was my afternoon time with Jesus in the deck, my time of devotional and study, the place where I found Jesus looking at me.
One of the many afternoons I sat down with my coffee, I ended up in Matthew 14, a chapter that became alive like no other and has forever changed the way I see people.
“… As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” – Matthew 14:13-14 NLT
The previous verses are found right in between the death of John the Baptist and Jesus feeding the five thousand.
That afternoon in the Mission House, I encountered Jesus, the man who lost a friend; more than a friend, a brother. John the Baptist had been beheaded in prison by orders of Herod, so he could serve his head on a platter as a gift for his daughter’s birthday. The disciples took his body and buried it, then they went and told Jesus.
Jesus, God in flesh and bones, is now hurting. He left in a boat to a remote area to be alone.
John the Baptist, whose public ministry ended over four hundred years of prophetic silence, a witness to the Light, who desired not to baptize Jesus but rather be baptized by Him, who acknowledged His greatness and prepared the way for the coming Messiah; is now dead. Death is never easy to process… but the crowds followed him! Imagine trying to have some alone time after the death of a friend, and multitudes following you. The response to this scenario has many outcomes in my head, but none of them compares to what Jesus’ response was in the middle of his pain: HE HAD COMPASSION FOR THEM.
The compassion of Christ shouldn’t surprise us, it should move us! Compassion moved Jesus. This attribute that we often overlook, is right in the middle of the ministry of Jesus. It was compassion that led Him to perform healings and prompted Him to feed the five thousand after a long day of teaching. When he saw the crowds, He wasn’t bothered or upset, He saw each of them – sick, ill-taught, hurting, helpless – acknowledging their need of Him.
Nothing else is recorded about the death of John the Baptist, not a Jesus mourning or self-invested, only compassion walking among us.
Jesus looked at me in the Mission House that day. Why don’t we see this kind of compassion lived out? Perhaps it is because our gaze if often fixed on ourselves, not others. May God give us eyes to see and the compassion of Christ.