Who is Jesus - Chapter six

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Chapter Six – Jesus Teaching on Compassion and Servant Ministry

This week I want you to do something a little different. Use the internet or a Bible Concordance and look up the words compassion, pity, servant, shepherd, and mercy. Find scriptures in the four Gospel’s using these words and read not only the scripture but the contextual scriptures (the whole story surrounding the scripture).

We begin this chapter talking about Jesus ministry in two specific aspects. Jesus was very clear in His example of who we are supposed to be when it comes to compassion and being a shepherd. In order to understand those two concepts we need to see them as Jesus had defined them. Merriam-Webster defines compassion is the emotion that one feels in response to the suffering of others that motivates a desire to help. But the Hebrew meaning of compassion goes far beyond that. In fact, the word that is often translated as “compassion” is the plural of a noun meaning literally “womb.” Compassion or mercy, the English translation is typically the same root word in Greek and Hebrew, is much deeper of an understanding than what we have in the Western world today. To Jesus, compassion represented the essence of God. The idea of the womb suggests that we are talking about the agape love of a mother to a child or even a sibling to another sibling born from the same womb. In our modern language we often to refer to this as blood is thicker than whatever we are comparing it too. It is a feeling not just for those that are suffering but a much deeper feeling or sense of creation and the love the creator has for what has been created. God gives birth to us and feels this deep love for us because of that.

But for Jesus, it goes even deeper than just a feeling or an emotion. Jesus uses compassion as the understanding of the central quality of God. Compassion then is something that is central to the person living a God centered life. If we are God centered then we are by default compassionate and we must show mercy when presented with the opportunity to do so. It goes to the concept of purity that permeated Jesus world and still permeates ours. Those that have affluence have their health and are whole so to speak, are considered by society to be pure. Those who have illness such as lepers are considered to be impure. That concept is extended to those whose lives may not be seen by the world as respectful and privileged. In our world today we would consider under those standards, anyone with illnesses of any kind, children born challenged, and professions like prostitution and such as impure. Jesus would then argue effectively that we are to reach out in compassionate ways to them. His mantra could well be summed up in ^NRS  Mark 10:45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." He shares with us that view in the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, verse 7 and 8 where he reminds us that we are to be merciful, for it is they who will receive mercy and blessed are the pure of heart for they will see God.  

So how do we follow the example of Jesus in our own lives as Jesus intended for us to do. The concept of “imitatio dei” is best translated as “in the image of God” which can best be understood as the idea of imitating God (Jesus in the literal) in our own lives. We see Jesus compassion show through in the miracle narratives that we have already described in Chapter Five. In the healing narratives we see the compassion of Jesus as He brings wholeness to the impurity of their illness. Jesus shows us His compassion in His willingness to touch the impure, the unclean and to heal them. Now the significance of that is lost on us in this century because we all have learned that with proper care, blood cannot contaminate us. But in Jesus day, to touch the unclean, the impure made you unclean and impure. It meant that you were not supposed to associate with the pure folk in the community until you had cleansed yourself and you were not allowed to worship in the Temple. We also see the Shepherd in that His healing not only restored their health, but also restored them to the societal order. In the continuation of the Sermon on the Mount story found in Matthew, we have the idea of loving your enemy, going the second mile and giving all you have to those who do not have (Matt 5: 38-48). We have the parable of the judgment in Matthew 25: 34-40 which admonishes us to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and visit the sick and imprisoned. Probably the best compassion story in the Bible is the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10: 25-37 where Jesus defines for us not only compassionate behavior but who is our neighbor.  

Jesus is known to us as the Good Shepherd. We see this in the restoration of His healing miracles not only in their restoration of their health but more importantly the restoration back into community and into the Kingdom of God. Several parables deal with the idea of being a good shepherd. The parable of the lost sheep (Matt 18: 11-14) for example reminds us that saving even one sheep is preferable to leading the 99 saved in discipleship. Jesus puts a high price on Profession of faith or confirmation in the Methodist journey. The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32) is a great story about being a good shepherd and welcoming even the lost, the least and the impure back into the family circle. Jesus reminds us, as He reminded the disciples that we are to reach out to the children of the world and we are admonished to be like little children in our faith.