Compassion is a fundamental and distinctive quality of God, and is literally "a feeling with
and for others." To the Christian, "sympathetic
compassion" is unique, because it is unique to our God. In contrast, Hinduism
is perhaps one of the most cruelly neglectful of all religious systems. Its
caste system prohibits anyone from even touching those of an alien caste. Its
treatment of the sick and dying is sometimes shocking and barbarous, because
providing them help is thought to delay the process of karma and reincarnation.
Brahmins (the Hindu priestly class) recognize no responsibility for the care of
the afflicted and downtrodden. And Islam, whose history runs red with secular and
religious bloodshed, cannot be expected to show much pity for those in need.
The primary motive behind Buddhist benevolence is that the act may lay up
merit.
How
different were Jesus' teaching and example. In the parable of the slave who
owed an unpayable debt to his king, Jesus illustrated God's love through the
grace of the king, who "felt compassion" on his slave "and
released him and forgave him the debt" (Matthew 18:27). When the two blind
men sitting by the road just outside of Jericho cried out to Jesus, "Lord,
have mercy on us, Son of David!" He was "moved with compassion,...
touched their eyes," and restored their sight (Matthew 20:30, 34). When the leper
came to Him, declaring, "If You are willing, You can make me clean,"
Jesus again was "moved with compassion," and He cleansed the man of
his tormenting disease (Mark 1:40-41).
The God of the Bible is the God of love and compassion. How different are the gods of
paganism. The supreme attribute of the ancient Greek gods was apathy and
indifference. Those supposed deities were supremely unconcerned about the
welfare of mankind. Even the nature of the true God had been so distorted by
the scribes, Pharisees, and Rabbis that most Jews thought of Him primarily as a
God of anger, vengeance, and indifference. Jesus brought an entirely new
message. Because the
Lord is compassionate, believers who bear His name are also to be
compassionate. "To sum up," Peter says, "let all be harmonious,
sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil
for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead" (1 Peter 3:8-9).
Jesus' motive for ministry was the
knowledge of man's lost condition. He saw the people around Him in the reality of their need.
He was moved by their diseases and sickness, and He healed every kind of them. But He was moved even more deeply by the needs that most of the multitude
did not know they had; to be freed from their bondage to sin. He was not fooled
by their religious fronts and their spiritual facades. He saw their hearts, and
He knew that inwardly they were distressed and downcast.
Jesus saw
the downcast multitudes as sheep without a shepherd to protect and care for
them. They were helpless and defenseless, spiritually battered, thrown down,
and without leadership or supply. Those who
claimed to be their shepherds were the scribes and Pharisees, but it was those
very "shepherds" who were largely responsible for the people's
confusion and hopelessness. Their religious leaders gave them no spiritual
pastures, nor did they feed them, give them drink, or bind up their wounds.
Instead, they were spiritually brutalized by uncaring, unloving leaders who
should have been meeting their spiritual needs. Consequently, the people had
been left weary, desolate, and forlorn. In John 10:6 Jesus calls them "the lost
sheep of the house of Israel," God's chosen people who had been left to
perish.
The scribes
and Pharisees offered a religion that added burdens instead of lifting them.
They had great concern about their self-made traditions but only superficial
and hypocritical concern about the true law of God. And for them, the common
people were the object of disdain not compassion, to be exploited not served.
The scribes and Pharisees were true descendants of the false shepherds against
whom the Lord had railed centuries earlier through Ezekiel: "Woe,
shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds
feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you
slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. Those who are sickly you
have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have
not bound up, the scattered you have not brought hack, nor have you sought for
the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them" (Ezekiel
34:2-4; Zechariah 11:5).
The scribes
and Pharisees "tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men's shoulders,"
Jesus said; "but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much
as a finger" (Matthew 23:4). Worse than that, they "shut off the
kingdom of heaven from men," not entering themselves and not allowing
others to enter (v. 13). What an indictment.
Many
religious leaders today are still endeavoring to keep people out of the kingdom
by distorting and contradicting God's Word and perverting the way of salvation.
They still keep them from the true Shepherd. By telling people they are already
saved because "a good God would never condemn anyone to hell," they
lead people to be content with themselves and to see no need for repentance and
salvation; thereby shutting tight the gracious door God has provided. Or when
people are told they can work their way into God's favor by avoiding certain
sins or by performing certain good deeds or participating in some prescribed
ritual, they are likewise deceived and left in their lost-ness. Those for whom
Christ feels compassionate love are spiritually battered, bruised, and thrown
down to lie helpless outside the sheepfold God has provided for them in His
Son. Jesus called
such false teachers thieves and robbers, strangers from whom people should flee
(John 10:1, 5).
In his parting words to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, Paul
warned, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the
Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He
purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will
come in among you, not sparing the flock" (Acts 20:28-29).
Jesus not
only performed miracles of healings to establish His messianic credentials but
also to show God's infinite love. He demonstrated compassionate power, a kind
of power completely foreign to pagans and even to most Jews; who had long ago
lost sight of the loving-kindness of the God who had called, guided, protected,
and blessed them as His chosen people. The people who witnessed Jesus' healing
touch and heard His healing words must surely have been as astonished by His
compassion as they were by His power.
How
wonderfully refreshing it must have been to hear Jesus say, "Come to Me,
all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon
you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find
rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).
What a contrast those words were from the teaching of the scribes and
Pharisees, who added burden upon burden, tradition upon tradition, requirement
upon requirement.
