Compassion Compels
by Jim Estep
Let’s admit it. The group that has the corporate corner on compassion is the ASPCA. Those late-night television commercials, showing malnourished, injured, and mistreated kittens and puppies, accompanied by “In the Arms of an Angel” ... and all you have to do to help stop it is send $19 per month, less than 57¢ per day to save them. Wow! I’m a pet lover, the tears are welling up in my eyes, and my wife has to stop me from reaching for my wallet and cell phone. Some things move me deep in my soul when it comes to helpless animals.
Compassion can be a powerful motivator. We see this in the life of Jesus. While staying in Capernaum he has an all too familiar encounter. “A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’" Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured” (Mark 1:40-42, emphasis added).
Just a few observations...
Leprosy is almost unheard of today, but it still exists in parts of the world. In Jesus’ time leprosy was recognized, and those with it were shunned, driven-out, even put into “colonies” and often left to simply die. On this occasion, a man with leprosy comes to Jesus and makes a request of him. Others would have run, been repulsed, tried to keep him away; not Jesus. Jesus saw him – saw the man and not the disease. We too, if we are to be compassionate people, need to see the person, the individual, not their condition, whether it is a physical or spiritual infirmity.
Jesus was filled with compassion. I can think of a lot of reactions to the sight of a leprous man. Disgust, fear, repulsion ... that’s natural. But it wasn’t for Jesus. He was filled with something else. Compassion is an overwhelming concern for the suffering of another, a sympathetic empathy toward someone’s misfortunes. I’m sure this man didn’t want leprosy. He was leprous through no fault of his own. Jesus knew this. His response was different. He felt compassion for the man and his plight.
Jesus did something about it. Ultimately, compassion motivates us to make a difference. Jesus heals the man, makes him whole, restores him to health; but this wasn’t just physical healing, this gave him back a life that had been lost to a dreaded disease, restored him to a family and returned him to his community. We may not be able to miraculously heal someone, but our Christ-like compassion can motivate us to intervene on another’s behalf, demonstrate the love of Christ to someone who perhaps has never experienced the care of another, who has been discarded and overlooked by others.
Perhaps there is someone whom you encounter every day, but don’t really see them? Perhaps someone who others avoid, even for “good reason,” but that you know for whom Christ still cares. What can you do to make a difference in their life? What small gesture can you do to make their day, let them lift their head? Pray Jesus brings someone across your path this week that gives you the opportunity to show His compassion through a genuine act of care.
