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Compassion and Jesus

Jesus came with his revolutionary message of God’s kingdom – a kingdom accessible only by faith. It required loving obedience to the King and Father, as well as loving service to brothers and sisters in God’s family and to every member of the human family. Love was its one all-inclusive law, a love that Jesus spelled out in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5), and a love that fulfilled the Ten Commandments (Romans 13:10). The controlling attitude and behaviour in this born-again society was to be compassionate, demonstrate love in action, and to provide caring concern for others – all of which was modelled by Jesus himself.

As God incarnate, Christ flawlessly reflected his Father’s nature, not only the divine holiness but the divine heart. Because he was sinless and most acutely sensitive to sin, Jesus sympathised with sinful people who were suffering the consequences of inherited depravity and personal sinfulness. He was aware that the multitudes he ministered to were made up of sinners, most of whom were spiritually weak and emotionally brittle. He realized too that in the crowds pressing around him were people whose faith was not burning brightly but was at best smouldering (Matthew 12:20). Gently, without judgement, Jesus tried to strengthen the weak and ignite their faith. One  Old Testament text that he continued to emphasise was Hosea 6:6, where God said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings” (Matthew 9:13; 12:7). Jesus appropriated those significant words spoken by God himself to defend his tradition-violating compassion.

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