The Lord from Heaven
THE COMPASSION
OF JESUS
By
DR. ADOLPH SAPHIR
The loneliness of great minds is
inevitable. They live in a lofty region,
and therefore in solitude. As they are
high above the generality of mankind, they must needs be
alone. They are separated from their
fellow-men by the comprehensive range of their thoughts and views, and by the
elevated tone of their aspirations and feelings. Their joys and their sorrows, their motives
and their aims, are but little understood. It is the temptation of great men to yield to
a feeling of mingled contempt and despondency with regard to mankind. Gifted with a keen perception of the
littleness, folly, and selfishness of men, they are inclined to despise the
multitude, and to look upon their elevation as a hopeless task. And if they meet with indifference,
ingratitude, hatred, and opposition, a feeling of bitterness is added to the
feeling of haughty contempt and despondency.
There is one transcendent
exception to this rule. It is the man
Christ Jesus. He was the
Lord from Heaven; He came
from above, and He was above all (John 3: 31).
He was fairer than the sons of men. He
lived constantly on a mountain height, far surpassing the loftiest elevation
reached by human minds and hearts; for He was, as He Himself expresses it, in heaven (John 3: 13).
The Father was always with Him; His
thoughts, desires, motives, were always heavenly and perfect (John 8: 16, 29). His spotless purity, His perfect love, His
singleness of heart, and complete conformity with the divine will, removed Him
to an infinite distance and height above all human beings. He saw all things in the light of eternity;
His heart and will were always in harmony with the infinite love of God and the
all-embracing purpose of divine wisdom. He
Himself was wisdom, the light of the world. He was the Holy One of Israel, and facing the
whole human race He stood alone, and could say to them, Ye who are evil (Matt. 7:
11). He was the revelation of
God, and, contrasted with Him, even the greatest teachers of
Near the gate of the city of
Of all the sad mourners who were
on their way to the burial-ground, none thought of the omnipotent love which
was able to turn their weeping into joy. No such hope stirred within their hearts; no
petition seeking the help of Jesus rose within their souls. But Jesus was moved with compassion. He saw the widow; she had already experienced
the keenest earthly sorrow; a sword had once before pierced her heart. And now her only son was taken in the very
morning of his life. Jesus saw her tears, He beheld the depths of her sorrow and desolateness. He had compassion on her, and said, Weep
not.
In no other Scripture narrative
is revealed to us so clearly the compassionate heart of Jesus in its divine
depth, and in its human tenderness. The
Lord felt moved in His inmost soul; the sorrow of the mother is felt by Him as
His own sorrow, her helplessness appeals to His heart; He fathoms in a moment
her utter desolateness, and the whole misery of men, of the banished children
of Eve, whom He had come to redeem. Nay, we cannot help
thinking, that the image of His own mother Mary and her future great agony
stood before Him; and as the Son of man, He felt compassion, as no sinful man,
as no mere man, could feel it.
I wish to speak to you of the
compassion of Jesus, of Immanuel, God with us. The heart of a true widow is an unfathomable
sea of misery, sorrow, and loneliness (Lam. 1: 1).
She has no help and consolation but in
God only (Isa. 54). And
when Gods Spirit shows us our true condition, and takes from us all earthly
stays and joys, all human righteousness and strength, then are we like a
desolate, helpless, and afflicted widow.
And Jesus has compassion, and says unto us, Weep
not.
The
Compassion of Jehovah
We all
know what is meant by compassion; when we see suffering, misery, helplessness, danger,
there is in the inmost depths of our being a feeling, spontaneous and
irresistible, born of the implanted love of our kind, and the consciousness of
the unity of our race. A sharp and yet
sweet pain electrifies our heart. Mysterious depths are opened, and reason and
all other faculties are solemnised and silenced; all human beings understand
the secret, which cannot and need not be translated into words. Scripture speaks of this feeling in very
strong and vivid words, which must not be weakened.*
* Scripture
speaks throughout Old and New Testament of bowels of mercy. The word translated He had compassion as applied to our Lord is
The original in James 5: 11 for very pitiful is
So concentrate is the language of
Scripture that we may realise the compassion of God, of which our compassion is a faint image.
Sacred
as is this feature of our humanity - because a feature of the divine image -
let us not think of the compassion of Jesus as merely an attribute of His human
nature. We can never look exclusively at
the human nature of our Lord (
Rise, therefore, from the
conception of human pity to the thought of infinite divine compassion. Look upon Jesus in the light of the Old
Testament revelation of Jehovah, and then adore the compassionate Jesus as
Lord. Dismiss the erroneous impression
of the severity and gloom of the Old Testament Scripture, as if the inexorable
justice, the unapproachable majesty, the awful sovereignty of God was its
exclusive or even predominant topic. Do
not confuse the aspect of law, or the dispensation of condemnation and death,
with the whole Old Testament economy, which is the revelation of Jehovah, preparing
as well as promising the advent of Him in whom we behold and possess
the Father. The God of Israel is full of
mercy and compassion. He
who appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, manifested Himself in most
familiar, tender-hearted, loving condescension; in His love He became God unto
them, and called them His friends; in His mercy and compassion He considered
their weakness, their trials, and their sorrows. How human is the God of the patriarchs
and of the children of the covenant! as human as the man Christ Jesus, the centre of the New
Testament, is divine.
This same compassion exclaims,
in words of deepest, simplest pathos, I have seen, I
have seen the affliction of My people, I know their
sorrows (Exod. 3: 7). This
same compassion is the most prominent element in the name, which the Lord
Himself revealed unto Moses, and which became to Psalmist and to prophet the
fundamental and central exposition of the divine character. The
Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, and abundant
in goodness and truth
(Exod. 34: 6).
David did not hesitate to apply
to God the most tender emotions of human
compassion. Like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him (Ps. 103: 13). And with a
still greater boldness of faith Isaiah exclaims, Can a
woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son
of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not
forget thee (Isa. 49: 15).
This compassion triumphs over
sin and guilt. It only regards the
sufferings and helplessness of sinful men. Were it not for grace, and for the
righteousness through which grace can reign, compassion would be powerless, it
could only sigh and weep. It is the
Redeemer God, it is Jehovah, who has compassion; in harmony with all other attributes, not
merely in harmony but in co-operation. And
compassion is, according to the scripture teaching, the most deep-seated and
all-pervading element which accompanies all the divine gifts and acts. God rebukes our sin, in holy wrath He turns
from our iniquity, His justice prepares and executes
severe chastisements. But His compassion
beholds the sinful, guilty, and polluted
How deeply
Jehovah, merciful and
compassionate; He who condescended to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and in great
loving-kindness chose them to be His friends; He who had pity on Israel in
their bondage, and redeemed them out of Egypt; He who led them through the
wilderness, and was afflicted in all their affliction (Is.
63: 9); He came at last in the person of the divine Son in Jesus, and
now men beheld the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Here is a full and perfect revelation of the
God of Israel, of that tender, motherly, intense, and inexhaustible compassion
which breathes throughout the Old Testament. Here is the true explanation of the Old
Testament anthropomorphism; God became man, and man, originally created in the
image of God, is redeemed by the man Christ Jesus, who is God above all,
blessed for ever.
The
Compassion of the Lord Jesus on Earth
Jesus had compassion; Jesus had
always compassion. When we look on men,
we regard that which is outward and on the surface. We notice more the peculiarities which
distinguish them, than the one great and essential thing which they have in
common. We see that they are poor or
rich, young or old, ignorant or cultured; we distinguish between virtue and vice, loveliness and unattractiveness; in all
this we dwell on what is an accidental difference, and one of degrees. Jesus always looked at what is real, eternal,
essential (John 2: 24, 25); He saw all men -
sinners, without God, without the light and life which alone bring blessedness.
He beheld them all, walking in the broad
road of departure from God, the only source of holiness and truth. He saw the depth of the fall, because He always
remembered the height of mans original position and call - He beheld them, as
sheep in the wilderness, who had gone astray; as prodigals who in pride had
left their fathers house, and were in the far country; as sick, wounded,
poisoned, and perishing men, who were going forward to destruction. It was this their
misery which constantly drew out His compassion.
He saw
the thirst of the soul, the void and desolate condition of the heart, the want
of peace and joy; He saw it in the most cheerful, self-satisfied, and pleasure-loving; and His compassion always said,
If thou knewest the gift of God.. He
understood the anxiety, the zeal, the eagerness of heavy-laden and burdened
ones, who were striving to fulfil the law of God and to obey His commandments,
and His heart was full of compassion; He longed to give them rest; He called
unto them, Come unto Me (John 4: 10; Matt. 11: 28).
Jesus
beheld the multitude, and had compassion. For He saw them as God sees them, in the light
of eternity, which alone reveals what is in time. Truly they were in the wilderness - without
pasture, without shelter, without having a strong shepherd to feed and to
protect them. And He saw them fainting,
for even in this life the heart becomes faint and desponding without God, and
the shadows of the future fill the soul with great sadness and fear (Matt. 15: 32, 9: 36-38). Jesus realised the emptiness and loneli ness of their life, and how the things of sense
and time filled their minds, and yet could not fill their hearts. Jesus had
compassion on all whom He saw to be without the knowledge and love of God;
whether they were Pharisees and devout religionists, or publicans and sinners,
He saw the real state of the heart; and Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of man, knew that man to be blessed, needs
only God; and that without Him he is utterly and eternally wretched; and
therefore He had compassion.
Jesus
had compassion on sinners, and that because He was holy and hated sin; all sin,
every sin, from its most secret commencement to its most open manifestation. Jesus, the Son of God, who had become man to
be our Redeemer and our Head, beheld always the countenance of His Father; and
He knew what man ought to be according to the loving purpose of God. How deeply grieved must He
have been with the constant tendency and effort in even the best men to lower
the height, to narrow the breadth, to lessen the depth of the divine law.
Men did not hallow the name of God and
sanctify the features of that divine image in which they were originally
created. This idolatry and taking the
name of God in vain was their root-sin. Jesus
beheld two depths, and that always: the depth of the divine Perfection, and the depth of mans sinful heart, and He was filled with compassion; He
beheld constantly the symptoms of our mortal disease, the manifestations of our
impure hearts, the lack of all the bright and lovable feature of the divine
countenance - and the Physician had compassion (Matt.
9: 12, 13).
Jesus
had compassion on man in his labour and toil, his life full of anxiety and
trouble. He heard the sigh of the poor, He understood the care-worn face of the destitute, the
sadness of the lonely, the bitterness of the despised. He who knew the love and goodness of God, and
who desired His disciples to be as happy and free, joyous and full of melody,
as the birds of the air, and to grow beautiful in perfect calmness and liberty,
like the lilies of the field, was filled with compassion when He saw men
burdened, not only with the evil of to-day, but with the weight of tomorrow (Matt. 6: 25-34).
Jesus
had compassion when He saw the bitter consequences and fruits of sin in the
misery of man. When He saw the sick and
the suffering He felt compassion. When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were
possessed with devils, and He cast out the spirits with His word and healed all
that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet
Esaias, Himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness (Matt. 8: 16, 17). Jesus healed with power and with compassion. In both He was divine and human. It was divine power exercised by the Son of
man, and hence by faith; it was divine compassion, the compassion of Him who
above all men and One with the Father, and yet through the human heart and
bowels of Jesus. Somebody hath touched Me,
the Lord said, when the poor woman in her timidity, and yet in strong faith,
sought to be healed by the Son of man. No
power went forth from Jesus to heal the sick and to raise
up the bowed down without His compassion, His love being moved. No poor sufferer could think of Him and
stretch towards Him the arms of his need and care but Jesus felt it in His
loving heart. There is no cry, no sigh,
no tear, no prayer, but Jesus in the depth of His compassion says, Somebody hath touched Me. It is this compassion which we see in all
Christs acts and miracles. Before He
healed the deaf man He looked up to heaven; He sighed, and then saith unto him,
Ephphatha, that is, be opened. He called the poor sufferers who came to Him,
son and daughter, for He felt fatherly pity. He comforted them and rejoiced over them, and
out of the fulness of His compassionate heart He hastened to say, Be of good cheer. When the two blind men, in reply to His
question, What will ye that I shall do unto you?
said, Lord, that our eyes may be opened, Jesus
had compassion on them and touched their eyes, and immediately their eyes
received sight, and they followed Him (Luke 8: 46;
Mark 7: 34; Matt. 20: 34).
Compassion Inexhaustible
Jesus
had compassion with our infirmities.
His compassion is, so to speak, the soul
of His wonderful patience and gentleness in His dealings with His disciples. He remembered their frailty; He pitied them
with the considerateness of a father, and the tenderness and inexhaustible
endurance of a mother. He comforted them
on that last night, when He knew that they should be scattered and leave Him
alone. The thought of their weakness in
the great struggle and darkness through which they had to pass filled Him with
compassion. It is this compassion which
meets us in the words uttered in the garden of Gethsemane, when He said unto
His disciples, Sleep on now and take your rest;
and in the words with which He protected them against the band of men and officers
who had come to take Him, If ye seek Me, let these go
their way, that the saying might be fulfilled which He spake, Of them which Thou gavest Me have I lost none (John 14: 1; Mark 14: 41; John 18: 8, 9).
Nothing
could exhaust His love and quench the fire of His compassion.
The
compassion of Christ shines forth in brightest glory on His cross. All His perfections are seen there in their
fulness, and above all His love to the Father and to the sinner. But in this love compassion is the all-pervading
element. We hear it in the first word
which He uttered. In reply to all the
contempt and hatred, to all the shame and ignominy, to all the pain and
suffering, He offered the petition, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do.
He pities them, and seizes on the only plea which can be brought forward,
not to exculpate them or palliate their guilt, but to appeal to the fatherly
forbearance and patience for a respite, for a prolonged period of gospel
invitations. We see His compassionate
heart in the second word, in which He hastens to answer the petition of the
believing thief with abundant grace and joyous promise. We see it in His third word, by which He
commended His mother, bowed down with sorrow, and in the prospect of
desolateness, to the care and final regard of the beloved disciple. The heart of Jesus was full of divine
compassion. Though our sin lay upon Him
as a heave burden, when He died as our Surety, when he was made a curse for us,
He thought of us only in our misery and helplessness with the compassion of a
Shepherd, who thinks of the wayward sheep only as perishing, and depending on
His care, love, and power; with the compassion of a Physician, whose only
anxiety is to heal and to rescue from death.
It is this compassion, this tender yearning to bring life and love to mankind, that is expressed in His word, I thirst. His
soul thirsted to speak again to man; to say again to poor and needy sinners,
who seek happiness in the things that perish, Give me
to drink (Luke 23: 34, 43; John 19: 26, 27,
28; comp. John 4: 7).
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