[Journey with Jesus – Day 14]
When Jesus saw the crowds, // his heart broke // he felt sorry // was moved with compassion and pity for them // had compassion on them, because they were confused / harassed / bewildered / and helpless / aimless // dispirited and distressed // distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.
(Matthew 9:36)
Jesus’s reaction to the ocean of need he sees is one of compassion and pity. His heart breaks for human suffering. In fact, his distress is at a measure with that which he witnesses in the people he encounters. In a world where it is so easy to get compassion fatigue, seeing so much need around us – both material, mental, and physical, that we become numb and no longer see it, or we feel swamped and helpless so that we don’t do anything about it, seeing the way Jesus responds to this need is a helpful wake up call. Firstly, he feels the pain of others. He weeps with those who weep; he enters into their suffering. This is why, even though he knows he will raise Lazarus from the dead, he weeps in front of his tomb because of the grief that confronts him. Secondly, once moved with compassion, he acts on this – firstly he heals and touches all he encounters, and secondly, (and this is where we come in) he invites the disciples to pray for workers to be sent out into the harvest field, where the harvest is plentiful, before then sending them out to be the answer to this prayer.
May God soften our hearts, so that our hearts break for the things that break his. May we be filled with compassion and courage so that we might be able to step out and respond to the brokennesses we encounter with Jesus’s love and power, may we respond to the need we encounter with prayer and action, and may we see a harvest of souls touched by the love of God, remembering that it is his harvest, his responsibility and not ours. Amen.
Halwill Publishing 