He cares

Philip Yancey recounts the words of a man with leprosy who visited Dr. Paul Brand, who had done much research on that disease:

“When I got to Vellore, I spent the night on the Brand’s verandah, because I had nowhere else to go.  That was unheard of for a person with leprosy back then.  I can still remember when Dr. Brand gook my infected, ulcerated feet in his hands.  I had been to many doctors.  A few had examined my hands and feet from a distance, but Dr. Brand and his wife were the first medical workers who dared to touch me.  I had nearly forgotten what human touch felt like.”

That story emphasizes not only the power of the human touch, but the power of compassion.  And the compassion demonstrated by the Brands is indicative of the compassion resident in the infinite nature of Christ.

In Mark 8, the gospel writer notes that a large crowd had followed Jesus for three days with nothing to eat — and He was compassionate toward them (v. 2).

This word for compassion used by Mark is the word from which we derive our word, “splanchnology” — the study of visceral parts of the body, including the bowels.  So it might be said that when Jesus felt compassion for the people, He felt it “in His gut.”  In fact, this same word group is used either of Christ or the Father about a dozen times in the Gospels.

• He felt compassion for the people because they were shepherdless (Matt. 9:36; Mk. 6:34)
• He felt compassion for the many ills of the people, including oppression by the demons (Matt. 14:14; 20:34; Mk. 1:41; Mk. 9:22; Lk. 7:13)
• He felt compassion for the sins of the people (Matt. 18:27; Lk. 1:78)
• His compassion stimulated lavish love and forgiveness for His own (Luke 15:20)

So Christ is compassionate.  But the temptation when life “deals a cruel blow,” is to say or think that God does not care.  In fact, this is one of the most dominant complaints by unbelievers against God. The logic is something like this:  “If God could have kept this cancer or car accident or job loss at bay and did not, then He must be a cold, uncaring, uncompassionate God.”  In other words, “because I have a problem, God must be uncaring.”

Yet notice this about the story in Mark 8 — it was only after three days that Jesus acted to provide a meal for the people.  Could He have provided food for these thousands of followers earlier?  Yes.  In fact, He did just that in the feeding of the 5000 (Mk. 6:33ff).  So then the question might be asked, “then why didn’t He?”  Here’s one answer:  Christ waited to provide food for these 4000 as a demonstration of His compassion.  If He had given them food at the first appointed meal time, He might have been recognized to be powerful, but His compassion likely would have been overlooked.  But by acting when it was clear that the people were in need, Jesus demonstrated that He cared for them.  Compassion can only be recognized when there is a need.  Providing food for people who aren’t hungry might be kind or nice, but it would never be understood to be compassionate.  But providing food for hungering people (after three days, it might not be literally true, but I’m quite sure I would have used the word “starving”), illustrates compassion.

So Jesus waited the three days to create a sense of need in this large group of followers.  And then He acted, proving through the miracle the reality of His visceral response to their plight.

The life of Christ demonstrates that He does care.  From the most basic and simple of needs, food and health, to the most profound of needs of forgiveness and restoration from sin, Christ cares.  He has experienced (and overcome) all the travails of life and is sympathetic to our plight and our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15).

Christ is not dispassionate towards people in general, nor His followers in particular.  He cares.  He cares for you today in your every circumstance.  And if you are in a particularly troublesome situation, it may be that He has placed you there for the very purpose of demonstrating the power of His compassion.