The Compassion Of Jesus Christ

The Compassion of The Christ Mark 6:30-35

1. The Passion of the Christ, written and directed by Mel Gibson. The movie portrays the life and death of Jesus, The scenes of Jesus being flogged and crucified are presented in graphic detail, hard to watch

• Now Gibson is working on a sequel, called The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection.

• The word “passion” comes from the Latin word passio, which means “suffering.

• Passion is something someone has for a hobby or sports activity.

• The root of the word passion is suffering, which was very clear in The Passion of the Christ.

2. In today’s reading The gospel of Mark says that when Jesus encountered a large crowd, “he had compassion for them” (6:34). Not Passion, but Com-passion.

• Compassion is such an important word in Scripture, Passio means “suffering” and “com” means “with.” Put the two together and you get “with suffering” or “suffering with.”

• Jesus shows compassion towards the people around him, which means that he “suffers with” them. I think Jesus literally felt what they felt, Hunger, Hopelessness, struggle

3. Jesus has been traveling the country side They were casting out demons and curing the sick.

• Jesus calls the apostles to hop into a boat with him and go away to a deserted place to rest

• The needy people see where Jesus is heading and hurry on ahead of him. The crowd is waiting

• Although Jesus is weary, he somehow avoids being annoyed that his much-deserved day off He isn’t irritated that these people are unable to help themselves. He isn’t even frustrated that the need all around him is so enormous.

4. Jesus has Compassion he suffers with them He hurts when they hurt,

• Jesus has compassion for them (v. 34). He “suffers with”

• The gospel of Mark was written first in Greek, and the Greek word for compassion is more graphic than the Latin word. It means to be moved by something so strongly that you feel it deep in your stomach, deep in your bowels, deep in your guts.

• Jesus has an awareness of the distress as if he is in distress with them, He has a strong desire to alleviate it. He feels compassion not just in his heart, but in his guts.

• Mark tells us that he has compassion because the people are “like sheep without a shepherd;(Like a baby without a mother) and he began to teach them many things” (v. 34). Jesus becomes their Good Shepherd, the one who invites the people “to sit down in groups on the green grass” (v. 39). He is just like the Lord of Psalm 23, who makes his sheep “lie down in green pastures”

• Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the one who teaches his people, provides them with food, and heals their sick and injured (vv. 34, 42, 53-56). “He will feed his flock like a shepherd,” promises Isaiah; “he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep” (40:11). He suffers with

5. Jesus wants us to feel compassion to suffer with. Do We Have Compassion?

• Our Good Shepherd asks us Do we have the compassion of the Christ? Are we willing to “suffer with” the hurting people around us? Do we feel the compassion of Jesus in our guts?

• When Jesus faces a hungry crowd, he feeds them. Simple as that.

• Jesus suffers with the people he feels their sorrows in his guts and After the feeding of the 5,000, When they land at Gennesaret, the people of the region recognize Jesus and bring the sick on mats to wherever he is. In a variety of villages, cities and farms, the sick beg to touch the fringe of his cloak. Mark tells us that all who touch it are healed (6:56).

• Jesus does his healing in villages, cities and farms, among the rich and the poor, the undeserving and the deserving, adults and children. All who come into contact with his cloak are healed.

6. We are challenged to suffer with feel in our gut the harms and hurts of others.

• Our challenge is always to suffer with people, as Jesus does — people who are young and old, male and female, black and white, gay and straight, rich and poor, moral and immoral.

• Jesus looks around and sees that the people around him are sheep without a shepherd, so he teaches them and feeds them and heals them (vv. 34, 44, 53-56).

• Jesus feels compassion deep in his guts and helps everyone — without discrimination and without asking why they need help in the first place.

• We are quick to pass judgment on people who are homeless, poor, or ill with one of the “diseases of poverty” —