86. A Walk With Jesus (Compassion)

Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. Mark 7:31

Leaving His healing ministry to the north Jesus travels south and down the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Passing through the region of Decapolis, lit. "10 cities" in the Greek, these were city-states of the Roman empire. A Gentile populated region that served to expand Roman culture.

"They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him." 7:32

The deaf were not well understood, and apparently not well thought of either, the following quotes were taken from Deafinfo.org,

“Ancient Roman law classified deaf people as 'mentecatti furiosi' - which may be translated roughly as raving maniacs - and claimed them ineducable.”(1)

And

“leave the unhealthy to die, and those whose psychological constitution is incurably corrupt it will put to death.” ~ Plato

As I read verse 32, I wonder to myself what this man could possibly had been thinking. He must have been confused and delirious in a semi-state of confusion as this crowd of people took him from where he was and pushed him before this no doubt stranger by the name of Jesus. The deaf man must have been scared, not hearing, only feeling his heart rate begin to rise as fear and adrenalin pulsated through out his body. What Jesus does next defines for me the meaning of the word COMPASSION.

"And He took him aside form the crowd," 7:33

Understanding the man's situation, and not willing to make a spectacle of him for the sake of His own glory, Jesus handles the man's dignity with care and guides him away from the miracle-hungry crowd; compassion. It is more than sympathy for someone in a difficult situation, feeling sorry for someone does not grasp the meaning. Compassion, as seen here, is a deeper felt need to care for the individual who is hurting. Jesus healed the man, but in so doing He ignored the crowd around Him, caring more for the man than Himself. We know what it means to only feel sympathetic for someone with no real desire to help, we also know what it looks like when a person takes care of another to satisfy their own ego or self-worth. Jesus does neither here, but takes the man so far from the crowd that only the two of them know he was actually healed.

It was Compassion that brought worth to this man's life. It was Compassion that brought God to this earth. It was Compassion that brought Jesus before the cross. There is nothing sympathetic about the cross, when nail-pierced hands bled on our behalf; when the punishment we deserve was placed instead on the innocent Savior. The cross is not the act or will of a god who only feels sorry for or is rather annoyed with humanity. No, this is the very act of God who has had compassion on each and everyone of us, not willing that any should perish; knowing we would had He not paid the price for our sins.

In His righteousness, justice was served as He died on the cross; and in His compassion we were saved, our hope of glory knowing He rose from the grave.

May we be imitators of Christ,


(1) --What the Rabbis Heard: Deafness in the Mishnah, Bonnie L. Gracer, "Disability Studies Quarterly", Spring 2003