The Compassion of Jesus
Mark 6:30-44
May 24, 2015
As you know we are currently in a study called “It’s All About Jesus”
And up until now the focus of that study has been to remind us
That everything in this life is in fact all about Him.
• We saw in Colossians chapter 1 how Jesus is to have “first place in everything”
• We saw the church at Ephesus and their intolerable flaw
• We saw the unpardonable reality that those who reject Christ can’t be forgiven
• We saw Mary’s worship and how loving Jesus takes precedent even over ministry
• And most recently we looked at Colossians 3 and saw that life is to be focused solely on Jesus.
It’s not about ritual or religion or man’s opinion.
Our goal is to focus on Jesus,
Learn what pleases Him, pattern our lives after His life,
And do everything we do in His name and for His glory.
And so we’ve been talking about that important reminder
That everything in life is in fact all about Him.
Tonight I want to begin a shift in our study.
For the remainder of this study,
I just want our study to be “All About Jesus”
Here is what I mean.
If it is our mandate to be like Him, and to pattern ourselves after Him,
Then I think it is important to be reminded exactly what He was like.
So we are just going to spend some time talking about Jesus.
And we are going to begin with the list that Paul gave us in Colossians 3.
A couple of weeks ago we were studying the life that is focused on Jesus,
And we talked about THE PATTERN.
We said that Jesus was the pattern, and we read Colossians 3:12-14
Colossians 3:12-14 “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”
Now I’m not going to pretend that that is a comprehensive list on Jesus,
But it is a good place to start.
Compassion, Kindness, Humility, Gentleness, Patience,
Forbearance, Forgiveness, and Love.
Those were all attributes of Jesus that Paul told us to pattern our lives after. So let’s spend some time seeing how Jesus fit that mold.
Tonight we tackle the first attribute on the list and that is compassion.
We are going to look at “The Compassion of Jesus”
So that we will know what compassion should look like in our lives.
Now certainly you are aware that compassion
Is a fundamental attribute of the God Head.
2 Corinthians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,”
Matthew 15:32 “And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.”
Matthew 20:34 “Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.”
Luke 7:13 “When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.”
You get the picture.
God is compassionate; Jesus is compassionate.
And we are certainly commanded to follow His lead.
Luke 6:36 “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
And in order to look at the compassion of Jesus,
Tonight we turn to Mark chapter 6 and a very familiar incident.
• It is the feeding of the 5,000.
• It is the only miracle (aside from the resurrection) that is recorded in every
gospel account.
What you or may not have realized is that
It is also one of the greatest incidents of Jesus’ compassion
That is found in Scripture.
So let’s work our way through the story and look at His compassion.
#1 A RUINED ATTEMPT FOR REST
Mark 6:30-33
This is part of the story that perhaps is commonly overlooked.
Most remember how Jesus fed the multitude with 5 loaves and 2 fish,
Few seem to remember the setting in which He did that.
(30) “The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.”
What is this in reference to?
Well, Jesus had just sent out the 12 in two’s
To go and get their feet wet in evangelism.
Mark 6:7-13 “And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff — no bread, no bag, no money in their belt — but to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two tunics.” And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. “Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.” They went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.”
Matthew’s gospel would add (in chapter 10)
• How Jesus promised them hardship when they did this
• And that they should not fear men who would kill them, but God who could body and soul in hell.
It was their first taste of ministry,
And obviously God was using them in a mighty way.
Now they have returned from that trip and they are reporting to Jesus
“all that they had done and taught.”
What is not explicitly stated in Mark’s gospel is that
THIS WAS NOT THE ONLY NEWS THEY MUST HAVE REPORTED TO HIM.
Matthew 14 also gives the story of the feeding of the 5,000
And Matthew sets the stage like this:
Matthew 14:9-13 “Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. His disciples came and took away the body and buried it; and they went and reported to Jesus. Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.”
The disciples didn’t just bring word of their ministry successes,
But also word of John the Baptist’s death.
This would have been a difficult blow for Jesus.
Not only is John the cousin of Jesus, but John is the forerunner.
Jesus knew what was going to happen to John
And He knew what was going to happen to Himself.
Matthew 17:11-13 “And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.”
John’s death was a reminder to Jesus of His own coming death.
This was grievous on a number of accounts.
Even more so when you figure in the timing of it all.
John 6:4 “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.”
John 6 is John’s account of this event
And John tells us then that the Passover was near.
Can you feel the weight of the reality Jesus was just forced to face?
This mission to come and die on a cross was real.
His agonizing death was coming soon.
AND SO THIS IS THE SETTING.
• The disciples are tired from a mission trip
• Jesus is emotionally hit after receiving some difficult news.
And so what Jesus says to the disciples is no surprise.
(31) “And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)”
What a beautiful request from the lips of Jesus!
“Come away” – not “go away”.
Why don’t you come with Me and we’ll go rest together.
“by yourselves”
Let me just spend some intimate time with you
“to a secluded place”
Where no one can find you and we can rest
“and rest a while”
No ministry, no preaching, no sermon preparation, no defending – just rest.
And aside from the hardships I already told you about, Mark adds:
“(For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)”
These were people who needed a retreat with Jesus.
It was time to turn off the cell phones, line up a supply preacher,
Head to the mountains with your family, and let your brain relax.
And I promise you there wasn’t a single one of the 12 (or Jesus)
Who would not have been looking forward to the break.
And so, they obviously took His advice.
(32) “They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.”
So they packed their bags, they jumped in the suburban (or boat)
And hit the road.
• They had snacks in an ice chest in the back
• They were listening to Casting Crowns on the radio
• They were playing the alphabet sign game as they went down the road
It was vacation
It was needed
And it was going to be great!
EXCEPT…
(33) “The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.”
Bicycle Ron called me a couple of weeks ago from Clayton, NM.
I told him that I had just been through Clayton about a month and a half earlier when our family went on our ski trip.
Ron said, “Let me ask you something. If I had been in Clayton when you went through, and you had seen me, would you have stopped to say, ‘Hello’?”
That is what Jesus and the disciples just faced.
They were headed on their ski trip and as they pulled into Angel Fire,
The same crowd they had just left was there waiting on them.
Now let’s play it honest.
• What would have been your first thought as you pulled up?
• Would you have circled the block, hoping they didn’t see you and then headed for Colorado?
I have a pretty good idea that I know how you would have felt,
Because it’s the same way I would have felt.
I would have wanted to send them to First Baptist Angel Fire.
At that point I would have even sent them to First United Methodist Angel Fire.
I would have been on vacation!!!!
And so we have a ruined attempt for rest.
And if you’ll put yourself in that situation,
I think you’ll be ready to learn about the compassion of Jesus.
#2 A REMARKABLE RESPONSE OF COMPASSION
Mark 6:34-44
All you can say here is that Jesus is just remarkable.
This is unbelievable.
Look at this:
“When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He…”
What would it say if your name was there instead of Jesus?
“When [ ] went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He…”
• Sighed greatly and told them to beat it
• Sent them on their way
• Uncorked on them and called them selfish people
• Deferred them to his wife, who was just as mad as he was
How would you have responded?
“When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them…”
That takes compassion to a whole different level doesn’t it?
• His disciples are tired
• He is grieving
• They haven’t even been able to eat
• And now they are bombarded by a crowd that could care less
These people aren’t here to comfort Jesus
These people aren’t here to cook for their retreat
Matthew’s gospel adds that Jesus healed those who were sick,
And thus you know why they were here.
• This was a group of people who wanted their own needs met, they didn’t care
about Jesus’ needs.
• These people wanted to see the doctor, they didn’t care if his little girl was
playing Tball or not.
Now you could go and read John’s gospel in John 6
And learn a great deal more about this crowd.
• After Jesus feeds them in John 6:15 they want to take Him by force and
make Him king.
• Later when He refuses to make them more bread, but instead tells them that
He is the bread that came from heaven, they all desert Him and go away.
That is the type of people we are dealing with here.
Jesus and the disciples are trying to get away for some rest
Instead He is met by one of the most selfish crowds in the Bible.
But instead of blowing His top, “Jesus…felt compassion for them”
Compassion is defined as: “Pity, inclining one to help or be merciful.”
The Greek word here translates, SPANCHNIZOMAI (splangkh-nid-zom-ahee)
Splanchna is the “bowels” and so it means to be “moved deeply on the inside”
It was the same word used of this man:
Mark 9:21-22 “And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. “It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”
This was a father who had helplessly watched a demon
Throw his son into the fire and the water.
And the feeling he felt for his son was the same feeling
Mark says that Jesus felt for this selfish crowd.
It is also the same word that Luke uses of how the father felt about the prodigal son.
Luke 15:20 “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”
Does that give better insight into the feeling Jesus had for this crowd?
It was the same feeling a father has when his child is hurting.
It was the same feeling a father has when his lost son is found.
When Zek was about 18 months old, he stuck his fingers in the hinge side of the screen door going to the back yard. I tried to close the door, and because it wouldn’t close, I pulled harder. He had one of those silent screams going on, so it took me a second to hear him.
When I finally realized what happened, I wanted to crawl under the floor.
I hurt for him.
And Mark says that this was the feeling Jesus had for the crowd.
He wasn’t mad
He wasn’t frustrated
He wasn’t disappointed that His trip had been ruined,
He was hurting for this crowd.
He was hurting for these people so desperate
That they had run on foot just to get a chance to talk to Him.
He “felt compassion for them”
What we want to do now is examine this compassion a little more closely.
3 things
1) HIS DESIRE TO BE COMPASSIONATE (34a)
Or: Why did He feel that way?
“When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd;”
I hope you remember Matthew’s account of that verse:
Matthew 9:36-37 “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”
Remember the people were “distressed”
SKULLO – “to skin or to flay”
They were “dispirited”
RHIPTO – “to cast or throw off”
These people were like sheep who had been not only been sheered,
They had been skinned and then just thrown aside.
If you watched the movie Dances with Wolves you hear them talk about thousands of buffalo that were killed just for their tongues, and then left to rot.
That was this crowd.
They were beaten and broken.
They were sick and weak and tired and hopeless
All they knew to do was to get to Jesus.
And when Jesus saw them,
Their needs were more important to Him than His own.
“they were like sheep without a shepherd”
They were lost sheep.
And if you will remember, that is precisely why Jesus came.
I don’t have time to take you back to Ezekiel 34 or Zechariah 11 and show you how the false shepherds had mutilated God’s flock and how Jesus was the promised Good Shepherd
But we know that were the earthly leaders had fleeced the flock,
Jesus came to care for them.
John 10:11-15 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”
Jesus came for the very purpose of ministering to these sheep.
He came to lay down His life for these sheep.
And if He was willing to die on a cross for them,
Then certainly He was willing to miss a vacation for them.
Do you get the idea?
Jesus had compassion because THEY were suffering.
• He didn’t have compassion because He had a few minutes right now
• He didn’t have compassion because He had a few extra dollars
• He didn’t have compassion because His disciples need a lesson
This wasn’t about Him at all
It was all about them
As Matthew said, He SAW the people.
It is impossible to be compassionate like Jesus
When the only person you ever focus on is yourself.
• I promise you it is not hard to be compassionate…
• It is not hard to hurt for other people…
IF you are willing to take the time to see their pain and listen to their story.
The reason we often fail to be compassionate like Jesus
Is because we are so wrapped up in our own lives
That we aren’t willing to open our eyes to someone else’s.
But Jesus did, and so He was moved with compassion.
His Desire to be compassionate
2) HIS DEMONSTRATION OF COMPASSION (34b)
Or: What did He do?
“and He began to teach them many things.”
Matthew’s gospel says that He also healed those who were sick.
The point here being that He gave them what they needed.
• Jesus saw the pain of their body and healed them.
• Jesus saw the pain of their soul and taught them.
WHAT AM I DRIVING AT?
HE DID SOMETHING
He didn’t just see the pictures of hurting people…
He didn’t just feel pain for hurting people…
He did something
Matthew West has a song called “Do Something”
“I woke up this morning; Saw a world full of trouble now. Thought, how’d we ever get so far down? How’s it ever gonna turn around? So I turned my eyes to Heaven, I thought, “God, why don’t You do something?” Well, I just couldn’t bear the thought of People living in poverty; Children sold into slavery. The thought disgusted me. So, I shook my fist at Heaven, Said, “God, why don’t You do something?” He said, “I did, I created you”
If not us, then who? If not me and you? Right now, it’s time for us to do something. If not now, then when Will we see an end To all this pain? It’s not enough to do nothing. It’s time for us to do something.
I’m so tired of talking About how we are God’s hands and feet, But it’s easier to say than to be. Live like angels of apathy who tell ourselves, It’s alright, “somebody else will do something”. Well, I don’t know about you But I’m sick and tired of life with no desire I don’t want a flame, I want a fire. I wanna be the one who stands up and says, “I’m gonna do something”. We are the salt of the earth, We are a city on a hill, But we’re never gonna change the world By standing still.
If not us, then who? If not me and you? Right now, it’s time for us to do something. If not now, then when Will we see an end To all this pain? It’s not enough to do nothing. It’s time for us to do something.
And that is precisely what we see from the compassion of Jesus.
He did something.
“He began to teach them many things.”
And there is not a person in here who couldn’t do that.
It was a demonstration of compassion.
But let me show you one more thing.
3) HIS DEGREE OF COMPASSION (35-44)
Or: How much?
You have to love this part of the story,
Because the disciples (like me and you)
Finally let their true colors come through.
They had been with Jesus long enough to know
Not to try and stop Him from ministering to this crowd.
Ignoring them wasn’t an option, they knew Jesus was compassionate
However, you also get the feeling that
They were just looking for an opportunity to close in prayer
And get on with their promised vacation.
And finally they have their chance.
(35-36) “When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
Sounds feasible doesn’t it?
Heck it even sounds like good thinking.
That’s what the disciples thought too.
This is a good excuse to get that crowd moving on their way.
But Jesus wouldn’t have it:
(37) “But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!”
In other words – YOU DO SOMETHING!
Kind of fills you in on what the disciples had been doing all this time doesn’t?
• They had been doing what you and I would have been doing.
• They were sitting under the shade tree, sighing, looking at their watch, and sulking that their trip had been ruined.
And this is what we call THE TEACHABLE MOMENT
Jesus told them to feed the crowd.
Of course you know the story.
They don’t have enough money, but then they find a lad with 5 loaves and 2 fish and Jesus uses that to feed the multitudes.
What you should also see is that when Jesus told them to do something, He equipped them to do it.
(41) “And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all.”
Did you catch that, “He kept giving them to the disciples” part?
Jesus didn’t give it to the crowd,
He gave it to the disciples to give to the crowd.
He provided for their compassion.
Beyond that, we see that Jesus went the extra mile.
He not only healed the crowd and taught the crowd, He fed the crowd.
That’s how you show compassion to lost sheep.
• You don’t blow them off
• You meet their needs and calm their fears
And if I could show you…it didn’t stop here.
This very night Jesus is going to send the 12 across the sea and He will later walk on water.
Look what happens when He gets to the other side:
Mark 6:53-56 “When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard He was. Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.”
It just never stopped…and neither did Jesus.
SO…
• Paul told us to pattern our lives after Jesus.
• He told us to “put on a heart of compassion”
And now you know what that looks like.
• Jesus saw the needs of others
• Jesus hurt for the hurts of others
• Jesus did something in His compassion
• Jesus also went the extra mile in His compassion
• And He didn’t stop until the crowds did
Now look, I know that you and I both
Identify much more with the disciples than we do with Jesus.
I realize that we all fall way short of the compassion of Jesus.
This wasn’t a sermon to help you see
If you are compassionate like Jesus.
I already knew the answer to that – you aren’t.
This sermon was about showing you the perfect standard
So that you know what to shoot for.
Once you see the compassion of Jesus,
You know what true compassion looks like.
Go strive to be like Him.
