Jesus' Compassion

Just ten days before the crucifixion, Jesus and His disciples set out for Jerusalem, they had been in Jericho where Jesus gave them specifics about what was going to happen there.

He told them that the Son of Man would be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they would condemn Him to death, and would hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day, He would be raised up.

With the weight of the world on His shoulders, and knowing in full detail what would soon happen, Jesus still had the wonderful and loving attitude He always had. His love for mankind didn’t waiver.

Many of us, if we were in His circumstance, would be terrified, angry, so consumed with "trying to get out of it," we would unlikely notice or care about someone else who had problems.

But not Jesus. He stuck to the mission to seek and save the lost, He still put others first. He left us with such good examples of grace under fire. In the face of meeting His own death, observe Jesus' love for the unfortunate.

Mat. 20:29-34, “As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"

(Mark’s retelling of this event mentions that one of the men’s name is Bartimeus. By these men calling Jesus, "Son of David," it is an acknowledgement to their faith in Him because that is the same as calling Him Messiah)

The crowd sternly told them to be quiet,

(The crowd that followed actually tried to silence them…​can you imagine? But isn’t that like the world and Satan? They will do everything to keep a soul from finding the Lord’s salvation.)

But they cried out all the more, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"

(They showed their determination to get the Lord’s attention and their efforts were rewarded. Jesus knew what they wanted, and He wanted to heal them because He loved them, He just wanted them to express it and ask for it out of faith.)

They said to Him, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened." Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.”

Mark’s account mentions that after Jesus healed them He said, "Go, your faith has made you well." He dismisses them. After having compassion on them and giving them sight, a life altering event, going from blackness to seeing clearly, they received their sight, believing in Jesus, the Light of all men.

They ignored Jesus dismissing them and followed Him. We don’t know for how long they went with them on Jesus journey to Jerusalem, I would like to think that they became disciples of Jesus. Just think about the events that their new eyes were to behold in the next week.

Jesus is God’s compassion in action. Cling to Him brothers and sisters!

Jim