Monday Morning Munch No. 47 – Jesus had Compassion

Compassion = a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

“He was moved with compassion.” -Matthew 9:36

Charles Spurgeon delivered a message titled “The Compassion of Jesus” that was published on December 24, 1914.

I read it on Saturday.

My heart nearly burst.

The first page of notes from reading the sermon.

Here are some quotes from the sermon that I believe will encourage, energize and excite you, but I recommend reading it all. It. is. so. good.

Spurgeon on the compassion of Jesus:

• If you would sum up the whole character of Christ in reference to ourselves, it might be gathered into this one sentence, “He was moved with compassion.”

(I have to set the next one up… it moved me to tears. Spurgeon is going through the fall of man and how Jesus was with God from the beginning and saw it all, then he says:)

• He continued still to pity men. He saw the fall of man; he marked the subtle serpent’s mortal sting; he watched the trail as the slime of the serpent passed over the fair glades of Eden; he observed man in his evil progress, adding sin to sin through generation after generation, fouling every page of history until God’s patience had been tried to the uttermost; and then, according as it was written in the volume of the Book that he must appear, Jesus Christ came himself into this stricken world. Came how? O, be astonished, ye angels, that ye were witnesses of it, and ye men that ye beheld it. The Infinite came down to earth in the form of an infant; he who spans the heavens and holds the ocean in the hollow of his hand, condescended to hang upon a woman’s breast—the King eternal became a little child. Let Bethlehem tell that he had compassion. There was no way of saving us but by stooping to us. To bring earth up to heaven, he must bring heaven down to earth.

Overwhelming.

• He gave up all the comforts of life—he gave his life itself; he gave his very self to prove that he was moved with compassion.

• He is moved with compassion for you. For where a man cannot go, the Book can go, and where in silence no voice is heard, the still clear voice of this blessed Book can reach the heart.

• Ah! how many times in your life, if you could read it all, you would have to stop and write between the lines, “He was moved with compassion.” 

Spurgeon to parents of unconverted children:

I sincerely hope you will take the time to read this sermon, but before I close this blog I want to include a slightly longer chunk of the sermon directed toward parents praying for their children to be saved.

• As I turned over the Greek Concordance to find out where this word is repeated again and again, I found one instance in Luke 7:13. It refers to the widow at the gates of Nain. Her son was being carried out—her only son. He was dead, and she was desolate. The widow’s only son was to her her sole stay; the succour as well as the solace of her old age. He was dead and laid upon the bier, and when Jesus saw the disconsolate mother, he was moved with compassion, and he restored her son. Oh! is there not refreshment here for you mothers that are weeping for your boys; you that have ungodly sons, unconverted daughters, the Lord Jesus sees your tears. You weep alone sometimes, and when you are sitting and enjoying the Word, you think, “Oh! that my Absalom were renewed; oh! that Ishmael might live before thee.” Jesus knows about it. He was always tender to his own mother, and he will be so to you. And you that are mourning over those that have been lately taken from you, Jesus pities you. Jesus wept, he sympathises with your tears. He will dry them and give you consolation. “He was moved with compassion.”