All through out the life of Jesus, we see Him showing compassion to individuals, giving to their needs. The clearest compassionate moments tend to be when Jesus mere sees a crowds of people whether they are seeking Him or not, He gave them compassion. In Mark 6:34-37 Mark explains how Jesus came off the boat and saw the crowd of the five thousand and had compassion on them and started teaching them. In Luke 7:13-14 Jesus had compassion on a widow who lost her young adult son and brought him back to life. The reality of compassion is that it is simply too showing love. I believe there are two simple but challenging standards for us to meet, so compassion is a bi-product of our life.

The first is found in Jesus’ challenge to the disciples before He feeds the five thousand. The disciples ask Jesus to let the people go and find food since they are not in a village but on the country side and Jesus responds with a command “you give them something to eat”. Compassion can be challenging when we attempt to show it without having the means to meet the need. Clearly Jesus knows that it is not a normal thing to feed hundreds let alone five thousand. What if the church were more active because the members were not intimidated to step in and fill a need in the community. If we would only realize the fact that we go to church with a couple hundred people who believe in God and serve the God who commands us to love and promises to provide. If we would only believe.

The second challenge is the battle of longevity of compassion. It is to simply not let the love run out. It is love that keeps marriages together and children having a foundation to stand on and to make sense of life as craziness unfolds before their eyes. It was love that sent Jesus to the cross because he knew what it would bring. Jesus looked upon Jerusalem and said “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” (Luke 19:41-42). Jesus didn’t let go of love because He knew what His effort would bring. God’s love for His creation made a path for us to experience peace. But we must follow His path and endure through His timing in order to experience it.

I pray that in this weekend you are encouraged and reminded of the compassion that we are to have and show towards others.