"He Was Moved With Pity"

Like his Father, Jesus was compassionate. The Scriptures describe Jesus as one who reached out to those in distress because he was deeply moved. To describe the compassion of Jesus, the Bible uses a Greek word that is rendered "moved with pity." Says one scholar: "It describes . . . an emotion which moves a man to the very depths of his being. It is the strongest word in Greek for the feeling of compassion." Consider some situations in which Jesus was moved by a deep compassion that compelled him to act.

Moved to respond to spiritual needs. The account at Mark 6:30-34 shows what principally moved Jesus to express his pity. Picture the scene. The apostles were excited, for they had just completed an extensive preaching tour. They returned to Jesus and eagerly reported all that they had see and heard. But a large crowd gathered, leaving Jesus and his apostles no time to eat. Ever observant, Jesus noticed that the apostles were tired. "Come, you yourselves, privately into a lonely place and rest up a bit," he told them. Boarding a boat, they sailed across the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee to a quiet place. But the crowd saw them leave. Others also heard about it. All of these ran along the northern shoreline and arrived on the other side ahead of the boat!

Was Jesus upset that his privacy was disturbed? Not at all! His heart was touched by the sight of this crowd, numbering in the thousands, who awaited him. Mark wrote: "He saw a great crowd, but he was moved with pity for them, because they were as sheep without a shepherd. And he started to teach them many things." Jesus saw these people as individuals having spiritual needs. They were like sheep straying helplessly, having no shepherd to guide or protect them. Jesus knew that the common people were neglected by the coldhearted religious leaders, who were suppose to be caring shepherds. (John 7: 47-49) His heart went out to the people, so he began teaching them "about the kingdom of Gode." (Luke 7:11) Notice that Jesus was moved with pity for the people even before seeing their reaction to what he would teach. In other words, tender compassion was, not the result of his teaching the crowd, but rather the motive for his doing so.

Moved to relieve suffering. People with various ailments sensed that Jesus had compassion, so they were drawn to him. This was especially evident when Jesus, with crowds following him, was approached by a man "full of leprosy." (Luke 5:12) In Bible times, lepers were quarantined so as to protect others from contamination. (Numbers 5:1-4) In time, however, rabbinic leaders fostered a heartless view of leprosy and imposed their own oppressive rules." Notice, though, how Jesus responded to the leper: "There also came to him a leper, entreating him even on bended knee, saying to him: 'If you just want to, you can make me clean.' At that he was moved with pity, and he stretched out his handd and touched him, and said to him: 'I want to. Be made clean.' And immediately the leprosy vanished from him." (Mark 1:40-42) Jesus knew htat it was unlawful for the leper to even be there> Yet, instead of turning hims away, Jesus was so deeply moved that he did something unthinkable, Jesus touched him!

Next time: Conclusion of "He Was Moved With Pity"

Draw Close To Jehovah, 2002