November 11, 2018
Evening Service

This morning we learned of the deep compassion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is full of compassion and compassion is love in action. We learned that compassion as defined by Webster is the sympathetic consciousness of other people’s distress together with a desire to alleviate it. We talked about some of the groups Jesus was specifically compassionate for, such as children, women, others and that Jesus was not limiting His compassion to any particular group but quite the opposite can be said. He was and is compassionate of all groups of people without distinction of any particular category. In fact, Jesus had shown an all-inclusive compassion that did away with all the traditional gender restrictions and taboos.

There was a woman in the day that had a condition of blood flow for twelve years and this condition made her ceremonially unclean and socially unclean. This was quite a burden to the woman who had spent most of her livelihood being attended by physicians that could not help her any. As Jesus was walking with the welcoming multitudes around Him, this woman came from behind and had touched just the border of His garment and the blood flow stopped immediately. This is the scripture in the book of Luke describing the healing compassion of Jesus.

Luke 8:43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 

Luke 8:44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. 

Luke 8:45 And Jesus said, "Who touched Me?" When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?' " 

Luke 8:46 But Jesus said, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me." 

Luke 8:47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. 

Luke 8:48 And He said to her, "Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace." 

A typical example of the attitude of Jesus toward widows was when He encountered a funeral procession outside the city of Nain. A young man had died and he was the only child of the grief-stricken mother who was facing loneliness and most likely no means to provide for herself also. When Jesus saw this procession and heard the woman sobbing, he was moved with compassion and His heart went out to her. Jesus did not wait for any appeal, he acted immediately and touched the coffin, risking the ritual contamination, and commanded the corpse to rise! As the God given miracle of life, the son obeyed as life returned to his body. Imagine the thankfulness of the mother as her unimaginable joy has replaced her sorrow so heavy and cumbersome. These are the scriptures where this story was told.

Luke 7:12 And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. 

Luke 7:13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." 

Luke 7:14 Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." 

Luke 7:15 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.

Jesus allowed women to be among his followers, and actually engage in the service and support of His ministry. Women together with men were being taught about God’s grace and this totally ruled out the gender distinction of the day. With compassion, Jesus told women individually and collectively the truth about God and His kingdom. An example of this inclusion is in the following scripture in Luke.

Luke 10:38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 

Luke 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. 

Luke 10:40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." 

Luke 10:41 And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 

Luke 10:42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." 

Jesus took the time to instruct Mary of Bethany and He gently rebuked Martha the sister of Mary, counseling her that it was better for a woman to learn about God than to be preoccupied with household chores. When Jesus said this to Martha, He was essentially turning the traditional role of the women upside down. In that day, the singing and chanting were done by the men and the women were listening in the own synagogue compartments. For instance, ten men had to be present for a service to be held. Nine men plus one woman would not do! So this was a great work Jesus was doing here in His time to make women a part of the service and support of God’s kingdom!

Jesus had the most compassion for the spiritually needy people. This is the whole reason God sent His Son to the world, so that if we believe in Him (Jesus), we will have everlasting life! Jesus through His and our Father in Heaven’s Will, had to overcome the world as a sinless example, and death to where the grave held no sting to our Lord Jesus, and then to rise on the third day and reign at the right hand of our Father in Heaven to be our Lord and Savior and God’s Holy Lamb. This compassion is the most compassionate act of love ever bestowed upon the human race and could not have been done by any other than the Son of God in Heaven. God first loved us and loved us while we were yet sinners; this is the great example of love for us as Christians to imitate, to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

We need to strive to be conduits of Jesus’ compassion. God so loved the world he sent His Son Jesus to save us and give us eternal life. Each of us Christians have imparted to us a portion of the Holy Spirit that guides our path, our actions, and our thoughts of others to be compassionate and loving to those in need. Jesus tells us plainly to love our enemies in this verse;

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

Matthew 5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Jesus sets the bar very high for us as Christians and this is the way to live our lives. As Greg said in his message last week if we aim at our target for perfection and then miss, we miss by only a little, but if we aim for the target just to hit it and don’t concern ourselves with the accuracy, we may miss the target altogether, and then find the effort was lacking to the point of not being worthy of calling it an effort at all. Thus our actions of love should reflect Jesus that lives inside of us and gives us the power to love and forgive and be of service to those in need. We need only remember that with man alone, not a whole lot of things are possible…..but with God (our Lord and Savior Jesus), there is nothing that is impossible.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 

By God’s enabling grace, we can become conduits of that compassion, following in Christ’s footsteps as did a multitude of or spiritual forebears. But if we do indeed imitate Christ, as suggested by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ, our compassion will not be limited to bodily needs. It will have soul needs as its supreme priority, just as that of Jesus and our Father in Heaven.

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

Father increase our compassion to the level you desire us to have and grow it according to Your Will, In Jesus name we pray.