Show Compassion

Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Luke 7:13, ” When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on herand said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ “

Background

I have not been to very many funerals. I guess you could say that’s a good thing. But even though I’m not a veteran of attending funerals and comforting grieving friends or loved ones, I have some idea of what to say and do. And you can bet your bottom dollar that I have never walked up to a friend or relative who had lost their dearest someone and told them not to cry. That carries with it all the compassion of Attila the Hun. But that’s exactly what Jesus says to this grieving mother. She already had lost her husband sometime earlier, and had been left with just her only son. Far from crying, she was probably blubbering the whole way as she led the large crowd out to see her son be buried. And then Jesus sees her and has compassion and tells her not to cry. Now, if that was the end of the encounter, then we’d want to send Jesus back to Compassion Training 101. But it wasn’t. And in going a step or two further, Jesus shows us a couple of wonderful things about the way He operates.

Application

First, He shows us that His instructions to us don’t always make sense at first. He may be placing an unusual burden on your heart or calling you away from the place you’ve always been, and it seems downright illogical to you. You may be doing a bunch of good things the right way, and all you’re getting in return is tepid results and indifferent responses. But Jesus doesn’t always tell us up front why we should stop crying. We don’t always know that just around the corner is a miracle healing and an amazing gift. Sometimes the strange word from the Lord is all we have to cling to. But we can know that He knows. And secondly, Jesus shows us that complete compassion is not just offering condolences, but it’s taking the steps to do something. We may not be able to undo the difficult situation, but we can always do more than just say we’re sorry. The simplest efforts can go further than we might ever imagine. But we’ve got to take that step. We may be the one that God uses to turn someone’s life around. We may, if we’ll show some compassion.

Charge

As we seek Him today, trust that His will is being done in your life, even when it seems to make no sense. Reach out and show compassion to someone who needs a little more.