Aging Spiritually: A Compassionate Presence
“…he had compassion for them,
because they were like sheep without a shepherd...”
—
Sometimes when I read the stories of the ministry of Jesus, I like to imagine what it would be like as one of the participants. What would it be like to be a young girl in the crowd with Jesus? Use your imagination with me.
She was young, just a teenage girl, and she was desperate. Her baby daughter, not even two years old, was sick. She was the joy of her mother’s life, but her fever wouldn’t go away. Her mother heard about a teacher who had power to heal, so when he came near her village, she grabbed her daughter and rushed out to see him.
A crowd had gathered around him. She had never seen so many people, all wanting to hear his words, to know the power of his healing touch, each one as desperate as this young mother for the life he offered.
As soon as she arrived, the teacher got into a boat with some of his followers and went out into deeper water away from the village. Desperate to help her daughter, she held her fevered brow close to her chest and frantically followed the crowd along the shore.
When the tiny boat turned toward the shore the crowd stopped running. The young mother began to quietly and gently push her way closer to the front so she could get near enough to touch his robe. But the crowd was too thick.
When the teacher and his followers came ashore, he immediately sat on a large rock and began to teach the crowd. His voice was peaceful and calm. He looked upon the crowd and had compassion for them. The word compassion means “to suffer with” someone. This teacher felt their pain. You could see it in his eyes.
They were as helpless as sheep without a shepherd. Many of them wandered through life with no purpose, no goal, no reason to exist, feeling as if their lives had no meaning at all. Their understanding of God was narrow. They only knew of God’s judgment, God’s rules and restrictions. They were to obey the rules and do as they were told.
The teacher talked about a different way of life, a life with meaning and purpose. Sometimes he called it abundant life, sometimes he called it eternal life, but usually he just called it the Kingdom of God.
His words went straight to their hearts, teaching them as one who understood their suffering and felt their pain. Those who had lost loved ones were comforted by his gentle words. Those who labored hard each day heard him say he would give them rest. Those who struggled with sickness and injury, or with the weakness of old age, found wholeness in his touch. He had compassion for them all.
Wherever he went, the teacher known as Jesus had compassion for all who came to him. He suffered with each of them. He saw the world through God’s eyes of compassion.
After Jesus finished teaching them, the young mother with the sick child slipped to the front of the crowd where he still sat on a rock. Before she could say a word, he placed his hands on her little girl’s fevered head and gently said, “Bless you, my child.”
This young mother found in Jesus, compassion, healing, mercy, and love. Her life and the life of her daughter were made whole that day. She thanked him and joyfully returned home.
-Greg Smith
Practice
As people who follow Jesus, who walk in his way, we are his tangible, living presence in this world. The compassion of Jesus is shown through each of us to the world around us.
Who do you know who needs the compassion of Christ today?
How can you show that person the compassion of Jesus?
How will you suffer with that person, feeling their pain with them?
How will you be a compassionate presence for them?
How can you suffer with that person, taking upon your own heart their suffering?
How can you feel that person’s pain?
Greg Smith
Legacy Ministry for Older Adults