Compassion
(More Bible Studies Available @ www.marktabata.com)
Luke 10:33-But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.
Recently, a good friend showed me a video of his young daughter at a school event. In it, the children are singing and dancing in front of an audience. A little boy has a shirt that keeps coming up when he dances, and the little girl notices. At first, she tries to get the attention of a teacher and points at the boy, trying to get him help. Finally, she walks over to him and pulls his shirt down for him! She was moved to kindness.
What a beautiful illustration of compassion!
Compassion is something which is sadly being lost in the world today. Indeed, in many ways, the lack of compassion is shown as a major factor in the Parable Of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:10:30-37). This parable was in the context of a man who wanted to justify himself, and who asked Jesus “who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). Jesus (as He often does) answers with a parable. In it, we are told of a Jewish man who is traveling and is severely injured by a group of thieves, who then leave him gravely wounded and half-dead on a desolate road (Luke 10:30). Some religious leaders and even a priest see him and ignore his plight (Luke 10:31-32). But then a Samaritan (a man from a race of people often despised by the Jews) comes along and has “compassion” on the injured man (Luke 10:33). He tends his wounds, puts him on his own animal, and takes him to an inn where he pays the innkeeper to tend to his injuries. He showed compassion!
Well, what exactly is compassion? The word used here is the Greek splagchnizesthai. The word has reference to that which stirs the deepest emotions of a person. It is used to describe Jesus in His interaction with those who were suffering for various reasons (Matthew 18:33; Luke 10:33; 15:20). Barclay has this for us:
“(i) Jesus was moved by the spiritual lostness of the crowd. They were as sheep without a shepherd. He was not annoyed with their foolishness; he was not angry at their shiftlessness; he was sorry for them. He saw them as a harvest waiting to be gathered for God (Matt. 9.37, 38). The Pharisees said: ‘The man who does not know the law is accursed.’ They were able to say: ‘There is joy in heaven over one sinner who is destroyed.’ But in face of man’s lostness, even when that lostness was his own fault, Jesus felt nothing but pity. He did not see man as a criminal to be condemned; he saw man as a lost wanderer to be found and brought home. He did not see men as chaff to be burned; he saw them as a harvest to be reaped for God. (ii) Jesus was moved by the hunger and the pain of men. The sight of a crowd of hungry, tired people, the appeal of a blind or a leprous man, moved him to compassion. He never regarded people as a nuisance, but always as people whom he must help. Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History 10.4.11) writes of Jesus in words which are either an unconscious or a deliberate quotation from Hippocrates, the founder of Greek medicine. ‘He was like some excellent physician, who, in order to cure the sick, examines what is repulsive, handles sores, and reaps pain himself from the sufferings of others.’ Jesus never regarded the sufferer with indifference, still less with loathing and disgust. He regarded the sufferer and the needy with a pity which issued in help. (iii) Jesus was moved by the sorrow of others. When he met the funeral procession of the son of the widow of Nain, he was moved by the pathos of the human situation. He was not detached and he was not indifferent; the sorrow of the widow was his own sorrow….The greatness of Jesus was his willingness to enter into the human situation, and to be moved by its poignancy to that compassion which compelled him to help and to heal.” (William Barclay, New Testament Words (The William Barclay Library), 277-278 (Kindle Edition): Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press)
Just as this young Jewish teacher was told to go and to likewise show mercy to others (Luke 10:37), so we also need to learn to have compassion on those who are suffering. This compassion will move us not only to “feeling” sympathy for someone, but will help motivate us to doing what we can to help them.
In a world where empathy is quickly being ignored and forgotten, there are plenty of opportunities for us as the church of Christ to go and have compassion toward those in need, just as Jesus here teaches us to do.
1 John 3:18-My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Father, we thank You for Your compassion upon us. Thank You for not leaving us to our sin and brokenness but instead showing us grace and mercy through Jesus. Guide us today to someone that we can share Your love with. Help us to follow in Jesus footsteps. It’s in His name that we pray, Amen.