"To Know the Love of the Christ"-"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 to 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 seen and heard.  But a large crowd gathered, leaving Jesus and his apostles no time even 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 alongside the northern shoreline and arrived on the other side of the boat!


Next time: "To Know the Love of the Christ"-Continue with "He Was Moved With Pity"


From the book: Draw Close to Jehovah