Compassion

	

	Jesus was just finding out about the death of John the Baptist and must have been feeling 

a great personal loss, as this man, who had meant so very much to him, was now gone from His 

life.


Mat 14:13  When Jesus got the news, he slipped away by boat to an out-of-the-way place by 

himself. But unsuccessfully--someone saw him and the word got around. Soon a lot of people from 

the nearby villages walked around the lake to where he was. 


	
	It might have been very natural for Jesus to have been a bit annoyed at the people for 

following Him to His place of solitude. How could they be so insensitive to His situation and 

impose on His personal grieving time? Didn't they know that He could really use this time alone 

to think about the loss of His dear friend and about how He might go on from here? While this 

might very well have been the reaction of most, I believe there was another purpose Jesus had in 

attempting to get away by Himself. I believe that Jesus was not stealing away to become 

self-conscious about His own situation, but to become Father-conscious and renewed in spirit and 

in purpose. His heart was compelled to commune with the One that would lift His spirits and give 

Him direction. In this place He could gain His Father's heart and confidently know His purpose. 

This is why, when the people began to show up in great numbers, His mind wasn't on Himself and 

how they had disturbed His private moment. From being with the Father He had gained the heart of 

the Father, which was the salvation and restored relationship with His people, His creation. 


Mat 14:14  When he saw them coming, he was overcome with pity and healed their sick. 

	
	
	
	His response, then, was compassion instead of annoyance.  This position of caring for the 

people with a complete focus on their needs instead of His own was great evidence that He had 

truly been in the presence of His Father. From this position He gained the purity in motivation 

that produced the great miracle of the feeding of the multitude. Later on in this chapter He 

would again emerge from a time with His Father to walk on the water and deliver His disciples 

from the storm. His motivation was never for self-promotion or to prove His own greatness. He 

developed a pattern of abiding with His Father and moving with compassion that would eventually 

lead Him to the cross, His greatest work on behalf of the people. This passion for meeting their 

needs would become the joy that He could set before Him and from which He could gain enduring 

strength. 
	
	
	The heart that is gained in the presence of the Father will always be one that is moved 

with compassion and caring. As He becomes our reward, we lose thoughts of our own needs and begin 

to care more about meeting the needs of others. The signs and wonders that follow these times in 

His presence will be about the completion of His purpose which has become our own. 
 


1/27/04