I was reading Matthew 9 this morning and something “popped out” to me.   It was as though God was saying, 

“Pay attention daughter.  I want to teach you something.”

Have you ever wondered about compassion?  In Matthew 9:35-38 it says, “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’” (This story was also found in Mark 6).  So my wheels started turning because, in the past when I’ve read about the life of Jesus, I noticed that He often felt compassion for people.  Well, if compassion earmarked the life of my Jesus, then I want to know more about it…and frankly, I want it to earmark my life too.  So, if I’m gonna do exactly as Jesus did, then I better really know what Jesus did, right? Right!  Enterrrrrrr….word study!  YAY!  Yah, I know, I’m a word nerd.  haha.

The word compassion (splagchnizomai) was used 14 times in the New Testament and it means “a heart in which mercy resides”, (the “heart” being the seat of the inward emotions of a person and not the blood pumping organ).  Mercy resides in the heart of a compassionate person.  So what exactly is mercy (eleeo)?   (Eleeo) is kindness or goodwill felt towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them; to exercise the virtue of mercy, to show oneself merciful.  When we truly feel compassion like Jesus, we want to do something about it.  

So check this out.  In Matthew 9:36, “when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion (splagchnizomai) on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”  He addressed his apostles about there being so many people who needed God’s touch, but so few willing people available to go.  Then Jesus sent out the 12 apostles to begin their ministries to people (He did something).

In Matthew 14:14 it says, “when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion (splagchnizomai) on them and healed their sick” (He did something).  In Matthew 15:32 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion (splagchnizomai) for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”  Then Jesus fed the multitude with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish (He did something), and “they all ate and were satisfied” (v. 37). 

The next passage actually uses both definitions in its text.  Check this out.  In Matthew 18:23-35 Jesus is telling a parable about a king who was auditing his books and settling his accounts.  The king came across a man who owed him the equivalent of 20 years wages, and this man was unable to pay.  The king ordered that the man, his wife and his children, and all he owned be sold to repay the debt.  But the servant begged for the king to be patient with him, saying that he would pay back everything he owed.  The king “was moved with compassion (splagchnizomai), and loosed him, and forgave him the debt”, (He did something) (v. 27).  Right after that man had been relieved of his debt, he went out and looked for a fellow servant who owed him 100 days wages and demanded immediate and full payment.  The fellow servant pleaded for mercy (eleeō), but the man would not hear it.  He actually had the fellow servant thrown in jail!  Word got back to the king who summoned this man and said to him “You wicked servant.  I canceled your debt.  Shouldn’t you have had mercy (eleeō) on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” (v. 32, 33) . 

Jesus had compassion (splagchnizomai): on two blind men and healed them (Matthew 20:34); on a leprous man and cleansed him (Mark 1:41); on a large crowd and he taught and fed them (Mark 6:34); on a demon-possessed boy and he cast out the demon (Mark 9:22); on a widow whose son had died and he raised him to life (Luke 7:13). 

Compassion (splagchnizomai) was also used in reference to the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:33; and in reference to the father’s feelings toward his prodigal son in Luke 15:20. 

I once heard a pastor on the radio define compassion as “feeling your pain in my heart”.  I like that a lot, but after my study this morning, I believe it goes a step further than that.  In all of the passages where the word compassion (splagchnizomai) is used, the “feeling” of compassion was accompanied by “action”.  When compassion wasn’t “completed”, Jesus called the person not turning the “feeling” into “action”, wicked.   

I can’t tell you the number of times that I have seen a person or a situation, and I am struck with a feeling of compassion; but it often stopped there.  Wow…that realization just sucked the breath right out of me because that would make me a person who Jesus would describe as “wicked”.  That’s not ok with me.  Change needs to happen.  

God has shown compassion for me and He did something about it.  He has saved me, has ministered to me, has emotionally healed me, has physically healed me, has emotionally comforted me, has tangibly provided for me…and I could go on and on.  I have received “did something” compassion in my lifetime, both from God, and at times from humans. 

“Oh God, I have learned what you taught me this morning.  I don’t wanna be called a wicked servant.  I truly desire to have the heart of Jesus toward people.”  To which He said, “I know my daughter,  that is the reason I had the Spirit bring the word compassion to your attention this morning.  I wanted to teach you that having compassion for others is more than just a feeling; it’s allowing that feeling to spur you on to action.” 

 My prayer is that God would now give me the opportunity to live out what He has taught me this morning.

Feeling, accompanied by Action = COMPASSION