A Compassionate Heart (Matt. 9:35-36)

SERIES: THE HEART OF JESUS
Matt 9:36 says of Jesus, that "He was moved with compassion." The famed preacher Charles Spurgeon declares that this one sentence sums up the whole character of Christ. Several times throughout the New Testament it says that Jesus was moved with compassion.

The Greek word used in Matt 9:36 is a very vivid one, expressing a strong emotion of love and pity felt in the depths of a person’s inner being. It is as though, when Jesus saw certain sights, that his heart was ready to burst with pain and sorrow. He was moved in the depths of His innermost being, with love and care. It caused such a profound agitation within Him, that He was moved to act.

Compassion feels deeply. It stirs us. It troubles us. We cannot walk on unchanged. Compassion moves us to act. Compassion costs us.

As we look at what moved Jesus with compassion, let us pray that He would form His heart of compassion in us, that we would be moved with compassion to feel and to act by what moves Jesus.