Jesus had compassion...

I have the privilege of spending each Monday morning with men from our parish studying scripture.  I especially like this group because they know how to fit fun and serious in the same sentence.  The group typically sees about 4-6 men each week but at least 12 men are involved on some level.  We structure the class around predetermined exegetical questions about the text and try to move toward application.  Our lesson is taken from the lectionary for the upcoming Sunday.  Today we studied Mark 6:30-34; 53-56 (text below).

While we had a small group today, I was encouraged by our conversation.  Most notably we considered the nature of God as made known in Jesus.  We pondered God’s response to humanity when humanity takes the initiative and seeks Jesus out.  This seeking out seems to be in stark contrast to the work that the disciples had done in recent days.  Before this passage, we read that Jesus sent the disciples out two by two to teach and preach the Good News of repentance.  But now the crowd presses in on Jesus and the disciples and not the other way around.      

From what we could discern, we have a God who is ready to welcome us into the fold especially when we seek him out when we are lost or have no way.  We spent a few minutes remembering other parts of scripture that spell out this truth: The Prodigal Son, “Come to me all who labor and I will give you rest”, and the unnamed woman who was hemorrhaging, just to name a few.  In today's lesson, Jesus has compassion for those who press in on him because they are like sheep without a shepherd.   

The bulk of our conversation considered the implications of the word compassion.  There was some conversation comparing and contrasting compassion and pity (in part, this conversation happened because this resolved a conversation I had with a friend months ago on the very subject).  The conclusion was that Kings and Lords have pity on peasants because Kings and Lords don’t know what it is like to live as a peasant (can show sympathy but not empathy).  However, Christ our King has compassion for the hungry and weak because Jesus knows what it is like to live in poverty and isolation.  The word compassion as translated from the Greek means “to suffer with.”

I am thankful that we have a God who has compassion for his creation.  For me, that means that we have a God who is genuinely interested in us and cares about us as his own.  We have a God who notices us in our deepest aches and pains when nobody else can or will.  We have a God who is not too busy to stop and notice that we are lost and searching to be found.  In the flesh of Christ, God shows us that it doesn't matter who we are or where we've been God is always there when we come or return in faith.  Our God shows compassion because of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who was willing to die and suffer like one of his own.  

 

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.