Boice: He Had Compassion...

The emotion most frequently attributed to Christ is compassion or pity. It is his expression of deep love when confronted by the desperate need of fallen men and women. Sometimes it is occasioned by physical need. Thus on one occasion, when confronted by the hunger of a large crowd that had been following him, Jesus said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come a long way” (Mk. 8:2–3).

We are told that he was “moved with pity” at the sight of a leper, and healed him (Mk. 1:41), that he responded “in pity” to the appeal for healing by two blind men (Mt. 20:34), that “compassion” caused him to raise the dead son of the widow of Nain (Lk. 7:13). Spiritual need also drew forth his compassion.

We are told again and again that he had compassion on the multitudes because “they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mk. 6:34; see also Mt. 9:36; 14:14). At other times he actually wept aloud over the stubborn unbelief of the city of Jerusalem (Lk. 19:41) and at the tomb of Lazarus (Jn. 11:35).

Boice, J. M. (1986). Foundations of the Christian faith: a comprehensive & readable theology (p. 282). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

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