Leadership Thought: Jesus Is the Master of Compassion

Dear Friends,

There is an ancient legend about a monk who found a very precious stone. A short time later the monk met a man who was hungry, and the man asked if he would share some of his provisions. When the monk opened his bag, the traveler noticed a precious stone and, on an impulse, he asked the monk if he could have it. Amazingly, the monk gave the traveler the stone. The traveler departed quickly, overjoyed with his new possession. However, a few days later  he came back to the monk and returned the stone and said to  him. "Please give me something more valuable, and more precious than the stone. Please give me that which enabled you to give me this precious stone!" James W.  Moore, Some Things Are Too Good Not To Be True,  P. 101.

Compassion is a quality that all of us could use more of. Jesus renewed people with the power of His compassion. In Matthew 50:32, we read "Jesus called his disciples to Him and said "I have compassion for those people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away, or they may collapse on the way."

Just earlier the disciples said urged Jesus to get rid of the woman who was begging that He heal her demon possessed daughter. 

"Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us," the disciples urged Jesus. But Jesus had time for her, just as he had time for anyone who crossed His path with a need for Jesus was a man who was always moved with compassion (Matthew 9:36; 14:14; 20:32).

The Greek word for compassion in these verses means "to suffer with," which implies He cared so much, it physically affected him. 

That is why when 4000 were camped out on his mountain doorstep, He couldn't just send them away. They had a need, and He was willing to take the time to meet that need. 

Oftentimes we avoid becoming involved with people because we know that we will be inconvenienced by addressing their needs. It is easier to be like those disciples and say: "Send her/ him away," "I don't have time," "I don't have the resources," "I don't have the ability," "I don't have the energy".

We have all been there and done that. But Jesus reminds us that we need to be aware of opportunities to be His hands and fee, and to minister with the heart of His love. Not only should we be aware of such needs, but  we should even be searching for opportunities to minister to those needs with His same heart of compassion. 

An unknown author has observed, "Some of our tears should be like Christ tears- for other people's troubles. 

Jesus. who was the master of compassion. He never wept for Himself, and may we not shed a tear for ourselves until our compassion for others has touched our hearts  and made us weep."

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom

PS Frederick Buechner writes, "Compassion is that sometimes fatal capacity for feeling what it's like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is a knowledge that there can never be any joy and peace for me until there is joy and peace for you as well."