What is Compassion? by Adam McClun

What is compassion?

Lets begin by looking towards Jesus for this one. Matthew 9:35-38 states, “Jesus traveled through all the cities and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And wherever he went, he healed people of every sort of disease and illness. He felt great pity for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his field.’”

Jesus healed people’s disease and illnesses, yet his compassion (pity) for the crowds came from their problems of hopelessness (not knowing where to go for help). Every person’s life is problematic, yet compassion as an answer to these problems is multifaceted. It involves both the physical and spiritual. However at the end of the day Christ is people’s only real hope.

Problems are not always fixed by simply doing, they will be fixed through compassion and time. To be truly compassionate towards people, this means that we will take them all the way to Christ. It is crucial to share the Gospel and give people a chance to respond to it. At crucial points in my own life, being challenged by other people was just was I needed to hear (not necessarily what I wanted). To be challenged, questioned, and face trials is where the most growth can occur. The most compassionate thing we can do is to reconnect a lost soul to the eternal God.

So just what does it look like to cultivate compassion? First off, biblical compassion is a commitment not a convenience. One cannot expect a sustainable ministry within the urban core while living comfortably out in the suburbs. A missionary cannot minister to his target audience without being directly involved in their day-to-day lives. This means a willingness to give up all convenience. Sacrifices must be made for the advancement of God’s kingdom, after all the ultimate sacrifice has already been accomplished. This is where the issue of ‘time’ comes in; we as ministers to people’s needs should commit long term to a ministry. It is a very scary thing to do, but in the big picture of things what do we really have to lose? We must live life together with others to share the Good News and build them up in faith.

Sympathy merely feels sorry, however biblical compassion always acts on that sorrow. It is not a reaction; it is a response. Consider the terrible tragedies that occurred last week with the cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China. As in Matthew 9:37-38, there is a huge need for spiritual and physical workers. As followers of Christ we are to respond. What can we do to respond?

…Praying? Answering people’s questions of why bad things happen? Allowing those affected to see God’s hope? Going to the areas affected? Shipping supplies? Monetarily giving?

As a seminary student, I at times feel so inadequate with addressing the problems of the world. I’m stuck in Deerfield, but I want to go now and meet these massive physical and spiritual needs.

But wait, God has placed individuals in my own life whose needs he can use me to meet. I have a whole community of people I know and don’t know yet whom I can affect for God’s glory over the next two years of my life in North-Eastern Illinois.

* All Bible references are taken from the New Living Version.
** This Blog post referenced at times: A Heart for the City. Edited by John Fuder. Moody Press:
Chicago, 1999.

Adam McClun is a first year Masters of Divinity student at Trinity Evangelical Dvinity School.