On any day you walk through an airport terminal you can see the pain on so many faces if you really look at people. So many are without God in their lives, “sheep without a shepherd” in great need of His compassionate presence.
It is easy to read about Jesus having compassion on someone in Scripture and miss the profound depth of what that means. God incarnate sees our misery and His reaction is not “they are getting what they so richly deserve” but instead a desire to help.
The Lord of the Universe is moved by humankind’s pain.
God not only weeps over our lostness but, in Christ, He extends Himself to find us. This is the definition of compassion, not only being affected by someone’s suffering but acting to relieve it. All the healings in Christ’s ministry are examples of God’s love in action, His willingness to enter our place of pain and do something about it.
“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” -Mark 6:34 (NIV)
