Read: Matthew 15:21-39 NLT – The Faith of a Gentile Woman – Then – Bible Gateway
“Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down. A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all.” Matthew 15:29-30 NLT
Do you place limits on your compassion? Are there times you avoid people to not deal with their concerns, or do you put others ahead of your own comfort? Christians are to have compassion, which is why I do not ask if you have compassion, but do you place limits on your compassion. If we are honest with ourselves we will notice there are times when we have failed. I must own up to my own limits when desired quiet time is interrupted by others or situations beyond my control. Particularly, I confess even as I am writing this, my compassion is limiting an opportunity to show itself by being interrupted by a recently reconnected old friend several times. The Lord is showing me I am not doing well in being compassionate. He has a way of doing that.
The Lord Jesus never put limits on His compassion. He has given us many examples of His compassion in the New Testament. Jesus is fully God and fully man. The fully man was as we are in His physical nature. Jesus experienced hunger, weariness, emotion, and compassion, but He never lost sight of those in need even as He was in need Himself.
The gospel of Matthew records several stories of Jesus’s compassion. In Matthew chapter 15, Jesus twice attempts to find some quiet time with His disciples but is overrun by people seeking healing. His renewal time is no match for His compassion. Scripture says the people laid those in need of healing before Jesus and He healed them all. He had compassion for those in need over His own need. For three days Jesus and His disciples were with the crowd who had followed Him, and now they were all hungry. Matthew 15:32 says, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.” (esv) Jesus’s compassion for their hunger and well-being is illustrated by His miracle of feeding them all with seven loaves and a few fish.
Jesus’ ministry was a tiresome venture. He was often weary and hungry and had countless people following Him. His time alone at rest with His disciples was limited, but even in those precious moments He had compassion for those in need of Him. Our Lord Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His compassion for those during His earthly ministry is the same for us today. Let us praise the Lord that although our compassion may fail, ‘his compassion never fails.’
