← Back to the beginning of The Compassion of Jesus
II. Those Passages of the Evangelists in Which They Testify that He Was Moved with Compassion
You will find one case in Matthew 20:31—“Two blind men sat by the wayside begging, and when they heard that Jesus passed by, they said, “O Lord, You Son of David, have mercy on us.” Jesus stood still, called them, questioned them and they seem to have had full conviction that He could and would restore their sight, so Jesus had compassion on them, touched their eyes and immediately they received sight!
Yes, and what a lesson this is for any here present who have a like conviction! Do you believe that Christ can heal you? Do you believe that He is willing to heal you? Then let me assure you that a channel of communication is opened between Him and you, for He is moved with compassion towards you, and already I hear Him command you to come to Him. He is ready to heal you now! The sad condition of a blind man should always move pity in the breast of the humane, but a glance at these two poor men—I do not know that there was anything strange or uncommon about their appearance—touched the Savior’s sensibility. And when He heard them say that they believed He could heal them, He seemed to perceive that they had inward sight—and to account it a pity that they should not have outward sight too! So at once He put His fingers on their eyes, and they received the power of seeing. O Soul, if you believe “Christ can save you, and if you will now trust in Him to save you, be of good cheer, you are saved! That faith of yours has saved you. The very fact that you believe that Jesus is the Christ, and rely upon Him, may stand as evidence to you that you are forgiven, that you are saved! There is no let or bar to your full redemption! Go your way and rejoice in your Lord! He has compassion on you.
The next case I shall cite is that of the leper, Mark 1:41. This poor man was covered with a sad and foul disease when he said to Jesus, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” He had full faith in Christ’s ability, but he had some doubts as to Christ’s willingness. Our Savior looked at him, and though He might very well have rebuked him that he should doubt His willingness, He merely said, “I will, be you clean,” and straightway he was made whole of that loathsome plague! If there is in this assembly one grievously defiled or openly disgraced by sin, see the leprosy upon yourself and do you say, “I believe He could save me if He would”? Have you some lingering doubt about the Savior’s willingness? Yet I beseech you breathe this prayer, “Lord, I believe, I believe Your power. Help You my unbelief which lingers round Your willingness.” Then little as your faith is, it shall save you! Jesus, full of compassion, will pity even your unbelief and accept what is faith and forgive what is unbelief. That is a second instance.
The third I will give you is from Mark 5:19. It was the demoniac. There met Christ a man so possessed with a devil as to be mad! And instead of belief in Christ or asking for healing, this spirit within the man compelled him to say, “Will You torment us before the time?”—and rather to stand against Christ healing him than to ask for it. But Christ was moved with compassion and He bade the evil spirit come out of the evil man. Oh, I am so glad of this instance of His being moved with compassion! I do not so much wonder that He has pity on those that believe in Him, neither do I so much marvel that He has pity, even, on weak faith—but here was a case in which there was no faith, no desire, nor anything that could commend him to our Lord’s sympathy! Is there no such case among the crowds gathered together here? You do not know why you have come into this assembly. You scarcely feel at home in this place. Though you have led a very sad life, you do not want to be converted—not you! You almost shun the thought! Yet it is written, “He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion.” Well, we have known it in this house, and I hope we shall know it again and again that the Lord has laid violent hands of love upon unprepared souls! They have been struck down with repentance, renewed in heart and saved from their sins! Saul of Tarsus had no thought that he would ever be an Apostle of Christ, but the Lord stopped the persecutor and changed him into a preacher—so that ever afterwards he propagated the faith which once he destroyed! May the Lord have compassion on you tonight! Well may we offer that prayer, for what will beyour fate if you die as you are? What will be your eternal doom if you pass out of this world as soon you must, without being sprinkled with the blood of Christ and forgiven your iniquities? Jesus knows the terrors of the world to come! He describes the torments of Hell. He sees your danger. He warns you. He pities you—He sends His messengers to counsel you. He bids me say to the very chief of sinners, “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.” “Only return unto Me and confess your iniquity, and I will have mercy upon you,” says the Lord. May God grant that the compassion of Christ may be seen in your case!
As I turned over the Greek Concordance to find out where this word is repeated again and again, I found one instance in Luke 7:13. It refers to the widow at the gates of Nain. Her son was being carried out—her only son. He was dead and she was desolate. The widow’s only son was to her, her sole stay—the succor as well as the solace of her old age. He was dead and laid upon the bier, and when Jesus saw the disconsolate mother, He was moved with compassion and He restored her son. Oh, is there not refreshment here for you mothers that are weeping for your boys? You that have ungodly sons, unconverted daughters, the Lord Jesus sees your tears! You weep alone, sometimes, and when you are sitting and enjoying the Word, you think, “Oh, that my Absalom were renewed! Oh, that Ishmael might live before You.” Jesus knows about it. He was always tender to His own mother, and He will be so to you. And you that are mourning over those that have been lately taken from you, Jesus pities you. Jesus wept, He sympathizes with your tears. He will dry them and give you consolation. “He was moved with compassion.”
Still the occasions on which we find this expression most frequently used in the Evangelists are when crowds of people were assembled. At the sight of the great congregations that gathered to hear Him, our Lord was often moved with compassion. Sometimes it was because they were hungry and faint, and in the fullness of His sympathy, He multiplied the loaves and fishes to feed them. At the same time He showed His disciples that it is a good work to feed the poor. Jesus would not have them so spiritually-minded as to forget that the poor have flesh and blood that require susten-ance—and they need to eat and to drink, to be housed and clothed—the Christian’s charity must not lie in words only, but in deeds! Our Lord was moved with compassion, it is said, when He saw the number of sick people in the throng, for they made a hospital of His preaching place. Wherever He paused or even passed by, they laid the sick in the streets! He could not stand or walk without the spectacle of their pallets to harrow His feelings. And He healed their impotent folk, as if to show that the Christian does well to minister to the sick—that the patient watcher by the bedside may be serving the Lord and following His example, as well as the most diligent teacher or the most earnest preacher of the glorious Gospel! All means that can be used to mitigate human suffering are Christ-like, and they ought to be carried out in His name, and carried to the utmost perfection possible. Christ is the patron of the hospital—He is the President of all places where men’s bodies are cared for. But we are also told that the multitude excited His compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He taught them as a Guide that showed the path by leading the way—and He looked after their welfare as a Shepherd who regarded the health of their bodies as well as the good estate of their souls! Surely, Brothers and Sisters, if you love Him, and wish to be like He, you cannot look on this congregation without pity. You cannot go out into the streets of London and stand in the high roads among the surging masses for half an hour without saying, “Where are these souls going? Which road are they travelling? Will they all meet in Heaven?” What? You live in London, you move about in this great metropolis and do you never have the heartache, never feel your soul ready to burst with pity? Then shame on you! Ask yourself whether you have the spirit of Christ at all! In this congregation, were we all moved with pity as we should be, I should not have to complain, as I sometimes must, that persons come in and out of here in need of someone to speak with them, to condole, to console, or to commune with them in their loneliness, and they find no helper! Time was when such a thing never occurred, but, in conversing with enquirers lately, I have met with several cases in which persons in a distressed state of mind have said that they would have given anything for half an hour’s conversation with any Christian to whom they might have opened their hearts. They came from the country, attended the Tabernacle, and no one spoke to them! I am sorry it should be so. You used to watch for souls, most of you. Very careful were you to speak to those whom you saw again and again. I do pray you mend that matter. If you have a heart of mercy, you should be looking out for opportunities to do good! Oh, never let a poor wounded soul faint for want of the balm! You know the balm. It has healed yourselves. Use it wherever the arrows of God have smitten a soul.
Enough. I must leave this point. I have given you, I think, every case in which it is said that Jesus was moved with compassion. Very briefly let me notice—
III. Some of the Foresights of His Compassion
The Lord has gone from us, but as He knew what would happen while He was away, He has, with blessed forethought, provided for our needs. Well, He knew that we should never be able to preserve the Truth of God pure by tradition. That is a stream that always muddies and defiles everything. So, in tender forethought, He has given us the consolidated testimony, the unchangeable Truths of God in His own Book, for He was moved with compassion. He knew the priests would not preach the Gospel. He knew that no order of men could be trusted to hold fast sound Doctrine from generation to generation, He knew there would be hirelings that dare not be faithful to their conscience lest they should lose their pay—while there would be others who love to tickle men’s ears and flatter their vanity rather than to tell plainly and distinctly the whole counsel of God. Therefore, He has put it here, so that if you live where there is no preacher of the Gospel, you have the old Book to go to. He is moved with compassion for you. For where a man cannot go, the Book can go, and where in silence no voice is heard, the still clear voice of this blessed Book can reach the heart. Because He knew the people would require this sacred teaching and could not have it, otherwise, He was moved with compassion towards us all and gave us the blessed Book of Inspired God-breathed Scripture!
But then, since He knew that some would not read the Bible, and others might read and not understand it, He has sent His ministers forth to do the work of Evangelists. He raises up men, themselves saved from great sin, trophies of redeeming Grace, who feel a sympathy with their fellow men who are reveling in sin, reckless of their danger. These servants of His, the Lord enables to preach His Truth, some with more, some with less ability than others. Still, there are, thank God, throughout this happy realm and in other favored lands, men everywhere, who, because sinners will not come to Christ of themselves, go after them and persuade them, plead with them and entreat them to believe and turn to the Lord. This comes of Christ’s tender gentleness. He was moved with compassion and, therefore, He sent His servants to call sinners to repentance.
But since the minister, though He may call as he may, will not bring souls to Christ of himself, the Lord Jesus, moved with compassion, has sent His Spirit The Holy Spirit is here. We have not to say—
“Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove.” He is here! He dwells in His Church and He moves over the congregation and He touches men’s hearts, and He subtly inclines them to believe in Christ. Oh, this is great mercy when a Prince spreads a feast and gives an invitation! That is all you can expect him to do. But if he keeps a host of footmen and says, “Go and fetch them, one by one, till they do come,” that is more gracious, still! But if He goes Himself and with sacred violence compels them to come in—oh, this is more than we could have thought He would have done—but He is moved with compassion and He does that! Furthermore, Brothers and Sisters, the Lord Jesus knew that after we were saved from the damning power of sin, we would always be full of needs and, therefore, He was moved with compassion, and He sets up the Throne of Grace, the Mercy Seat, to which we may always come, and from which we may always obtain Divine Grace to help in time of need. Helped by His Spirit, we can bring what petitions we will, and they shall be heard! And then, since He knew we could not pray as we ought, He was moved with compassion when He sent the Holy Spirit to help our infirmities, to teach us how to pray! Now I do not know a single infirmity that I have or that you have, my Christian Brothers and Sisters, but what Christ Jesus has been moved with compassion about it and has provided for it! He has not left one single weak point of which we have to say, “There I shall fail, because He will not help there.” But He has looked us over and over from head to foot, and said, “You will have an infirmity there—I will provide for it. You will have a weakness there—I will provide for it.” And oh, how His promises meet every case Did you ever get into a corner where there was not a promise in the corner, too? Had you ever to pass through a river but there was a promise about His being in the river with you? Were you ever on the sick bed without a promise like this, “I will make your bed in your sickness”? In the midst of pestilence have you not found a promise that, “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you trust”? The Lord’s great compassion has met the needs of all His servants to the end! If our children should ever need as much patience to be exercised towards them as Christ needs to exercise towards us, I am sure there would be none of us able to bear the house. They have their infirmities and they full often vex and grieve us, it may be, but oh, we ought to have much compassion for the infirmities of our children—yes, and of our Brothers and Sisters, and neighbors—for what compassion has the Lord had with us? I do believe none but God could bear with such unruly children as we ourselves are. He sees our faults, you know, when we do not see them, and He knows what those faults are more thoroughly than we do. Yet, still, He never smites in anger. He cuts us not off, but He still continues to show us abounding mercies! Oh, what a Guardian Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ to us, and how we ought to bless His name at all times, and how His praise should be continually in our mouth. One thought strikes me that I must put in here—He knew that we should be very forgetful—and He was moved with compassion with our forgetfulness when He instituted the blessed Supper, and we can sit around the Table and break bread, and pour forth the wine in remembrance of Him. Surely this is another instance of how He is moved with compassion—not with indignation towards our weaknesses! And now let me close with—
IV. Personal Recollections of the Compassion of Christ
I shall only recall my own experience in order to stir up your pure minds, by way of remembrance, my Brothers and Sisters. I do well remember when I was under conviction of sinand smarted bitterly under the rod of God—that when I was most heavy and depressed, there would sometimes come something like hope across my spirit. I knew what it was to say, “My soul chooses strangling rather than life,” yet when I was at the lowest ebb and most ready to despair, though I could not quite lay hold of Christ, I used to get a touch of the promise, now and then, till I half hoped that, after all, I might prove to be God’s prisoner and He might yet set me free! I do remember well, when my sins compassed me about like bees, and I thought it was all over with me, and I must be destroyed by them, it was at that moment when Jesus revealed Himself to me. Had He waited a little longer, I had died of despair, but that was no desire of His! On swift wings of love He came and manifested His dear wounded Self to my heart. I looked to Him and was lightened, and my peace flowed like a river! I rejoiced in Him! Yes, He was moved with compassion. He would not let the pangs of conviction be too severe—neither would He allow them to be protracted so long for the spirit of man to fail before Him. It is not His practice to break a leaf that is driven by the tempest. “He will not quench the smoking flax.” Yes, and I remember since I first saw Him and began to love Him, many sharp and severe troubles, dark and heavy trials, yet have I noted this, that they have never reached that pitch of severity which I was unable to bear. When all gates seemed closed, there has still been with the trial, a way of escape, and I have noted again that in deeper depressions of spirits through which I have passed, and horrible despondencies that have crushed me down, I have had some gleams of love, and hope, and faith at that last moment, for He was moved with compassion! If He withdrew His face, it was only till my heart broke for Him, and then He showed me the light of His Countenance again. If He laid the rod upon me, yet when my soul cried under His chastening, He could not bear it, but He put back the rod and He said, “My child, I will comfort you.” Oh, the comforts that He gives on a sick bed! Oh, the consolations of Christ when you are very low! If there is anything dainty to the taste in the Word of God, you get it then! If there are any hearts of mercy, you hear them sounding for you then. When you are in the saddest plight, Christ comes to your aid with the sweetest manifestations, for He is moved with compassion!
How frequently have I noticed, and I tell it to His praise, for though it shows my weakness, it proves His compassion, that sometimes, after preaching the Gospel, I have been so filled with self-reproach that I could hardly sleep through the night because I had not preached as I desired. I have sat down and cried over some sermons, as though I knew that I had missed the mark and lost the opportunity. Not once nor twice, but many a time has it happened, that within a few days someone has come to tell me that he or she found the Lord through that very sermon, the shortcoming of which I had deplored! Glory be to Jesus—it was His gentleness that did it! He did not want His servant to be too much bowed down with a sense of infirmity, and so He had compassion on him and comforted him! Have not you noticed, some of you, that after doing your best to serve the Lord, when somebody has sneered at you, or you have met with such a rebuff as made you half-inclined to give up the work, an unexpected success has been given you, so that you have not played the Jonah and ran away to Tarshish, but kept to your work? Ah, how many times in your life, if you could read it all, you would have to stop and write between the lines, “He was moved with compassion.” Many and many a time, when no other compassion could help, when all the sympathy of friends would be unavailing, He has been moved with compassion towards us, has said to us, “Be of good cheer,” banished our fears with the magic of His voice and filled our souls to overflowing with gratitude! When we have been misrepresented, maligned and slandered, we have found in the sympathy of Christ our richest support, till we could sing with rapture the verse I cannot help quoting, now, though I have often quoted it before—
“If on my face for Your dear name, Shame and reproach shall be, I’ll hail reproach and welcome shame, Since You remember me.”
The compassion of the Master making up for all the abuses of His enemies! And, believe me, there is nothing sweeter to a forlorn and broken spirit than the fact that Jesus has compassion. Are any of you sad and lonely? Have any of you been cruelly wronged? Have you lost the goodwill of some you esteemed? Do you seem as if you had the cold shoulder even from good people? Do not say, in the anguish of your spirit, “I am lost,” and give up. He has compassion on you! No, poor fallen woman, seek not the dark river and the cold stream—He has compassion! He who looks down with the bright eyes of yonder stars and watches you is your Friend! He yet can help you! Though you have gone so far from the path of virtue, throw not yourself away in blank despair, for He has compassion! And you, broken down in health and broken down in fortune, scarcely with shoes for your feet, you are welcome in the House of God, welcome as the most honored guest in the assembly of the saints! Let not the weighty grief that hangs over your soul tempt you to think that hopelessness and darkness have settled your fate and foreclosed your doom! Though your sin may have beggared you, Christ can enrich you with better riches. He has compassion! “Ah,” you say, “they will pass me on the stairs. They will give me a broad pathway and if they see me in the street they will not speak to me—even His disciples will not.” Be it so, but better than His disciples, more tender by far, is Jesus! Is there a man here whom to associate with were a scandal from which the pure and pious would shrink? The holy, harmless, undefiled One will not disdain even him—for this man receives sinners—He is a friend of publicans and sinners! He is never happier than when He is relieving and retrieving the forlorn, the abject and the outcast! He despises not any that confess their sins and seek His mercy. No pride nestles in His dear heart, no sarcastic word rolls off His gracious tongue, no bitter expression falls from His blessed lips. He still receives the guilty. Pray to Him now! Now let the silent prayer go up, “My Savior, have pity upon me! Be moved with compassion towards me, for if misery is any qualification for mercy, I am a fit object for Your compassion. Oh, save me for Your mercy’s sake!” Amen.
Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon: Matthew 9:27-38
Verses 27, 28. And when Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying and saying, Son of David,have mercy on us. And when He was come into the house.I suppose the house at Capernaum, where he was known to stay.
28. The blind men came to Him.Forced their way in. They must be attended to. Hunger breaks through stone walls, they say, and an earnest heart will follow after what it seeks.
28, 29. And Jesus said unto them, Believe you that I am able to do this? They said unto Him, Yes, Lord. Then He touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you. That is, “If you do not believe, you shall not see, but if there is faith in you, behold, you shall have sight.”
30-32. And their eyes were opened; and Jesus at once charged them, saying, See that no man knows it But they, when they were departed, spread abroad His fame in all that country. As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a dumb man posessed with a devil.Here we have had the dead, those that were bleeding to death, the blind and the dumb, and the possessed of a devil.
33. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, it was never so seen in Israel No, but Jesus does wonders! Something off the common, and altogether out of the ordinary way, His work of Grace must be!
34. But the Pharisees said, He casts out devils through the Prince of the devils. There is always somebody or other who has got an ugly word to put in. It matters not how much God may bless the Gospel, there is no stopping the sneers and objections—but the mercy is that it does not matter much. Our Lord was not hurt and the work went on, notwithstanding all the quibbling of the Pharisees.
35. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. That was the answer to the Pharisees. Christian activity and fervent devotion to the cause of God is the best answer that can be given to quibblers of any sort or every sort! In your work hold on, my Brother, and those who quibble at you, now, may come to honor you one of these days.
36-37. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.We are all loiterers, but where are the laborers? Where are they with the sharp sickle that can cut down the wheat and, with a ready hand, can bind it and, with a strong shoulder, carry it? Alas, in this great city the harvest is truly plenteous, but the laborers are few!
38. Pray you, therefore, the Lord of the Harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.