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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
Like all persons, Jesus is the composite of all His features; the whole is the sum of the individual parts. To get a glimpse of Christ, I am forced to look at His individual traits. So, if I intend to have the image of Christ stamped into my heart, I must have a valid view of His character. Subsequent messages will address many of the important character traits of Jesus. From these individual glimpses into the heart of the Savior, we will gain an overall view of the Image of Christ.
One simply cannot read the New Testament scriptures without coming to the conclusion that Jesus was compassionate. A few events in His ministry serve to make that point. First, He was compassionate from a physical viewpoint.
On one occasion, Jesus had been teaching the people for three days and they had continued with him for that length of time, but were now without food (Mark 8.2). As Jesus raised the question of what to do about this situation with His disciples, He said, "I have compassion on the multitude…" Because of this compassion, he miraculously increased seven loaves and a few small fish to a feast that was able to feed about 4000 people. Jesus had compassion for the hungry.
On a similar occasion, Jesus fed about 5000 men, but it is also stated that "He was moved with compassion and healed their sick" (see Matthew 14.14-21). The significance of this text is to show that he was moved with compassion; pity does little to relieve the suffering of others; compassion moves to help! Compassion not only recognizes a problem (that's the easy part) but works to resolve the source of the pain.
On still yet another occasion, Jesus was passing through the city of Nain when He encountered a funeral procession. A grieving widow had lost her only son and was surrounded by a large crowd of mourners. Jesus, "…had compassion on her and said to her, 'Do not weep." With that He came and touched the open casket, causing the pallbearers to halt. Then Jesus said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." At Jesus words, the young man sat up and began to speak. The biblical record then says, "He presented him to his mother." We might add that never a dearer gift has been given to a grief-stricken mother! (see Luke 7.11-17).
From these examples it becomes obvious that Jesus was and is a person of compassion. He did not feel pity; rather, He was "moved with compassion." His actions were consistent with His emotions in such cases. In His visit to this planet as the God-man, He felt what we feel; He was moved where we would also likely be moved. He was not isolated from the feelings that are all too typical of the human race. He witnessed suffering firsthand; He knew exactly what it meant to be a human and to feel what humans feel.
As we construct this image of Christ by assembling the parts of the whole, we see that compassion was but one of the attributes of Jesus, but it certainly was an attribute. Our image of Christ includes one who is compassionate for the physical needs of others.
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