Monday, March 12, 2018
Compassion
Luke 7:13
When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”
Jesus had a reputation for disrupting funerals whenever He encountered them. The case of this funeral at Nain, Luke 7:11-17, was no exception.
In this incident, we tend to focus on the miracle, as we should, but we also tend to miss a number of other things that were happening. The mourners were carrying the dead body in an open coffin as was the custom at the time and Jesus reached over and touched it. The immediate reaction at the time would have been that Jesus was breaking the Levitical laws about not touching a dead body at the risk of becoming ceremonially unclean. Numbers 19:11.
This intervention by Jesus was consistent with other incidents we see in the Old Testament scriptures and was obviously the reason why the people who observed it declared that “A great prophet has risen up among us”; and, “God has visited His people.” Luke 7:16.
In 1 Kings 17:17-24 there is a story of Prophet Elijah and the widow of Zarephath with whom he was staying. Having been instrumental in the miracle in which her last flour and oil were not used up for days, even though she kept cooking every day, her son died. She protested to Elijah and he prayed to God for the boy and the boy came back to life and was presented to her. She declared then, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.” 1 Kings 17:24.
There is another story, 2 Kings 4:8-37, about the Prophet Elisha this time, and a Shunammite woman. She too had a son that died and was in deep distress. Elisha came to the house and prayed to God for the boy and the boy came back to life and was presented to her.
In both cases, that of Elijah and that of Elisha, they were involved in miracles that took place in the lives of the women whose sons had died. The focus of their actions was not so much to perform a miracle, the focus of their actions was to respond to the need and deep distress of the mothers. There were in the presence of women who were in deep distress over the loss of their sons. We in the Caribbean remember well the words of Bob Marley, “Can a woman tender care, she cried, Cease towards the child she bear?”
This motive is more explicitly stated in the incident that Luke records here. Luke was clear that as the funeral procession was making its way out of Nain to the cemetery outside of the city that Jesus observed the widowed mother. It was not the opportunity for public display that Jesus seized. It was not a woman’s loss that he sought to exploit. It was his compassion for a widow in deep distress. “When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Luke 7:13.
Miracles, by their very nature, are spectacular. Miracles always entail a bending of the laws of nature for a particular thing to occur. Miracles, therefore, always draw attention and cause people to look on in awe and wonder. Because of this, there is a tendency, sometimes, to want to perform a miracle to play to the crowd. This tendency can be observed very often in ministries. When the ministry promotes miracles as a drawing card for crowds rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The great commission of Jesus is not to perform miracles, it is to preach the Kingdom. The Great Commission has three components, preach the Gospel to make disciples, baptise them, and then teach them. “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20.
It is true that signs and miracles will follow those who are involved in ministry in the Kingdom, “these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16:17,18
However, it is as we go that the miracles are performed, that is not the reason for going. The difference between those who are able to perform miracles as they go and those who go to perform miracles is compassion.
Those gifted with the power of God should be moved by compassion and not by a drive to perform for the crowd. Ministers moved by compassion do not exploit the struggles of the suffering but are more concerned about restoring to them that which was lost whether it be a son, a relationship, health, finances or whatever.
Sometimes, the spirit of the age overtakes the ministers of the ageless gospel and the technology induces us to perform for display. However, the lesson of our Master is compassion. I actually believe, that if we were more sensitive to the Spirit, and saw people and situations the way God sees them, we’d be moved with compassion and greater would be the miracles.
Think on these things:
- Do you believe that genuine miracles still happen today?
- Are you or others in your church gifted by God to see miraculous works performed?
- What situations around you move you emotionally enough for you to want to see a miracle?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would be moved to compassion in the face of human suffering and pray like the prophets for God to respond to the needs around us.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
