Christ’s Compassion in Action

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A recent study found that over 60% of people who were surveyed believe that our society as a whole is becoming less compassionate. And that concern, I don’t know that the other 40 think, oh, no, we’re on the right track. But you’re always going to find a certain number of people in any survey that say, I don’t know what I think.

Is the sky orange? I don’t know. But over 60% said our country, our society as a whole is getting less compassionate.

And I think that’s cause for, whether it’s true or whether we just perceive it that way, I think it’s cause for concern. Because we do see stories in the news constantly about cruelty, about people just lacking compassion. Depending on what media sources you follow, you may see stories about somebody attacking somebody on a New York subway and other people sitting around just doing nothing about it.

I can’t remember how long ago it was, but there was a story that filtered even down to me here in Lawton, Oklahoma, about a woman being killed on the subway. And other people just stood by and did nothing. And we’re concerned about those stories, but for each of those stories that we run across, there are other stories of people showing compassion.

We’ve been inundated with the stories of people who have dropped everything and gone to Texas to help with recovery in the aftermath of the floods. I know that every single time my hometown was hit by a tornado growing up, people would show up from across the country to help. And so it’s hard to know if we’re becoming less compassionate or not as a society.

But I think all of us agree that we want to be more compassionate as a society. We agree that we want to see more compassion. And part of the reason why we all recognize that, unless there’s just something seriously wrong with us, we all recognize the need for compassion because God has put that in us.

Because it reflects the nature of who God is. Now, we know that God is compassionate, but we may not always feel that way. We may not always describe him that way.

Sometimes the circumstances of life can feel like he’s not compassionate, but our feelings lie to us. Sometimes people will even look at stories in the Bible and say, that’s not compassionate at all. But even in judgment, God is compassionate.

There’s a video, it’s from 2014, but I’ve seen it several times this week. These things just kind of make the rounds on the internet and they get prominent again. Back in 2014, R.

C. Sproul, who’s now gone on to be with the Lord, was doing a question and answer service, kind of like we do on Sunday nights. And somebody asked the question, since God is compassionate, When Adam and Eve chose to sin in the garden, why was his response so harsh?

And you may have seen this clip and maybe weren’t aware of where it came from, but Sproul turns to the people and says, what is wrong with you people? That’s an answer you will never get from me during one of our Sunday night question and answers. But he began to explain how you have us as these creatures that God created from the dirt and gave us everything that we needed, everything that we could ever want, and He created us for perfect fellowship with Him.

And nevertheless, we decided to rebel against Him. He had told us, God had told us, that the day we ate of that fruit, we would die. And while spiritual death did take place in that moment, our lives did not cease.

Adam and Eve were not struck dead. God, there were consequences, but God was far more gracious to them than they deserved. And so Sproul looked at this and said, given the circumstances and given who God is and who we are, it’s amazing that God’s response wasn’t harsher.

We say the same thing with Noah’s ark. How could God, if he’s so compassionate, how could he wipe out all of life on earth? That’s the wrong question.

Because with as sinful as mankind was at that time, it was worse than today. The way Genesis describes it. Every thought of everyone’s heart was only evil all the time.

The question is not, why did God only spare eight? The question is, why did God spare anybody at all? Or the question, if God’s so compassionate and understanding, why did He only make one way to heaven?

The question is, with our sin, why did God make any way at all? God is compassionate. And this morning, as we continue our study through the book of Luke, we’re going to see the compassion of God on display.

This is not the ultimate display, But this is one of those places that you look at and you think all the ways Jesus could have done something differently if he was like us. All the ways that this story would have been different if Jesus was like us, but he’s not. He’s far more compassionate than we are because God is compassionate.

We’re going to be in Luke chapter 9, starting in verse 11 today. So if you’d turn there with me, if you haven’t already. And once you find it, if you’d stand with me as we read together from God’s Word.

We’re going to start in verse 11. We finished up with verse 11 last week, but this verse is kind of a bridge between the two stories. Last week we were looking at him sending out the twelve to go throughout Galilee, and today we’re looking at the feeding of the 5,000 that came shortly after.

Verse 11 says, but the crowds were aware of this and followed him, and welcoming them, he began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing. Right there, right there, I’m just going to pause right there and say that right there is already a mark of compassion. Jesus has gone to where he has gone to get away from the crowds because Jesus is tired.

I think one of the gospels says at this point he and the disciples hadn’t even had time to stop and eat. He gets there and the people flock to him again. And if you or I are in that situation, we’re going to say, I’m sorry, I’m on a break.

I need you to leave me alone for a few minutes. He doesn’t do that. It says he welcomes them and began healing them and curing those who needed healing.

Verse 12 says, now the day was ending, and the twelve came and said to him, send the crowd away that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get something to eat. For here we are in a desolate place. But he said to them, you give them something to eat.

And they, think about that. They’re saying we don’t have any food, and he says, give them something to eat. It’s got to be confusing to the disciples.

And they said, we have no more than five loaves and two fish. These are little biscuit type things and two probably salted fish preserved. Unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.

For there were about 5,000 men. And he said to his disciples, have them sit down to eat in groups of about 50 each. They did so and had them all sit down, and he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them and broke them and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the people, and they all ate and were satisfied, and the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve baskets full.

And you may be seated. So a few things to understand here as we start out. It says there in a desolate place.

Some translations say desert. It’s not desert in the sense that it’s just rocks and sand. This is not Arizona, New Mexico, northern Mexico kind of desert.

This is just a place where there’s not a lot of stuff. It’s a remote area. It’s like if my kids and I go hunting in southeast Oklahoma.

Lush places, trees, fields, the whole nine yards, but you can’t necessarily go find anything to eat real easily. Okay, that’s the kind of place that they’re in. They’re out there, they’ve got all these people, and it says 5,000 men.

Others of the Gospels talk about their wives and children being with them. This is a crowd that could be as large as 25,000 people. That would be a challenge today, even when we can run to Sam’s.

We would probably empty out Sam’s, trying to provide for 25,000. I know we would empty out Sam’s. We’d probably have to go to the next one.

We’d have to send somebody to the city for Costco. We’d have to empty out everything to feed 25,000 people. And they’re getting to the point that this is a major concern for them.

Now, it says in some of our translations, the day was ending. This doesn’t mean they’ve just come to sundown and they’re suddenly aware of the problem. This is really any time after noon, they realize Jesus has not stopped teaching.

And if we’re going to send these people away in time for them to find provisions, we got to do something now. We’ve got to make a decision now because there’s going to come a time when these people need to eat dinner. And you don’t want an angry crowd that is hungry.

Any of you ever get hangry? I may or may not have some people in my house that get hangry. You don’t want that crowd to be there and there’s no food and then no place for them to lodge.

For the disciples, this is a huge logistical problem that they’re starting to get worried about. And so they come to Jesus. And they come to Jesus with this problem.

And I want to share with you four ways that we see the compassion of Jesus on display in this very short passage. The first of these is that when they come to Jesus, they come saying things and having attitudes that they should have known better than. And Jesus addressed them very patiently.

The Lord addresses our weaknesses patiently. That may not fit the picture that some of us have in our minds of who God is, but in reality, he addresses our weaknesses patiently. So these men, think back as we’ve studied through Luke piece by piece, we’ve seen the stories here of the miracles that they have just seen with their eyes.

Imagine seeing him raise people from the dead. Imagine seeing him calm storms. Imagine seeing him heal lepers. Imagine all the things that they have just seen, and to realize there’s nothing that’s outside of his control.

And that includes healings that have just taken place that day. That’s why verse 11 is so important. He gets over there.

He begins healing people again. It’s not like it’s been three months since his last miracle, and what have you done for me lately? That day, he’s been healing people.

And despite everything that they have seen, their faith was not as strong as it should have been. They are actually worried about how Jesus is going to take care of this many people. Actually, they’re worried about how they’re going to take care of this many people.

And that betrays this sort of lack of trust that Jesus is going to do anything about it at all. I have one child in particular, a little six-year-old redhead, who always has to remind us to feed her as though we have ever forgotten. Last night, Charla was, well, a couple nights this week, Charla’s been out working on a project for the school, and I’ve been responsible.

I’ll be in there standing there making dinner. And she comes in all frantic, worried that I’m not going to feed her. I’ve clearly got it under control.

But that little girl has zero confidence in my abilities to feed her. She does the same thing to her mama, too. It’s just her.

That’s kind of how the disciples are acting. They’ve seen Jesus, they know he can handle this, but they don’t seem to have any concept that he’s going to actually handle this. And they’re worried, what are we going to do?

They’ve come up with a plan. And so they came to Jesus, they thought these people are going to have to leave to find what they needed. And what’s interesting about the way they do this is they are so consumed by their worry that they actually interrupt Jesus while he’s teaching and start telling him what he needs to do.

I’m just going to step out on a limb here and say, knowing who Jesus is, if you’re going to interrupt him and start bossing him around, you’re not thinking clearly. Really, at any point, if you start bossing Jesus around or trying to boss Jesus around, You’re just, you’re not thinking clearly. So they come in and do that, and Jesus answers this by instructing them back.

They’re all worried about, we’ve got to send these people away to find food, and he just says, give them something to eat. Like, this is not a hard problem. Just give them something to eat, in verse 13.

And here again, we see Jesus letting them know what’s going to happen. Just give the people some food. We’ve got plenty.

They’ve seen this before. When they panicked in he had already told them, we are going to the other side. And they miss these things when Jesus says, this is how it’s going to be, and they’re so consumed by their worry.

Now, we don’t want to sit here 2,000 years later and feel like we’re so superior. I would be doing the same thing. I don’t know that I would be trying to tell Jesus what to do, but I would certainly be worried about it and encouraging Peter to go tell Jesus what to do.

So we would be in the same boat. But even though Jesus told them what was going to happen, they’re unconvinced that he’s going to do anything about it because they didn’t have the means to supply the crowd. It’s great that Jesus said, just give them something to eat.

Their answer is, we don’t have enough. Guys, you’re talking to Jesus. But what we see here is this group of disciples, they’ve been trained to serve the kingdom, and they’ve just been out to serve the kingdom, and they’ve seen God do incredible things through them, let alone the incredible things that Jesus has done, and yet they come back and they’ve allowed themselves to get sidetracked from their service to the kingdom by these earthly concerns.

They can’t see what he intends to do because they’re so focused on earthly things, and we do the same thing. But here Jesus doesn’t answer them as harshly as he could. spot that Jesus deals with the disciples when they come in with this lack of faith, and really it’s not so much a belief that Jesus can’t do this, it’s just they get so consumed by their worry.

And you might think, oh, I know there’s nothing Jesus can’t do. My faith is strong, but sometimes our worry chokes out our ability to see that clearly. Jesus could have answered them harshly.

Jesus could have said, how dare you? Can’t you see I’m Who are you to come in and tell me how we’re going to do these things? He doesn’t do any of that.

Jesus answers them gently. And he addresses them patiently, and he does so in ways that are going to teach them so that their faith is stronger the next time. That’s one way we see his compassion on display, just the way he patiently addresses our weaknesses.

You and I have those weaknesses. You and I have those moments where our faith is not as strong as it ought to be, where our knowledge is not where it ought to be, where our ability to persevere and do what he’s called us to do are not as strong as they ought to be. I’m not saying that he’s just fine with sin, but I’m saying in our weaknesses, he’s patient.

Then we come to verse 14, and we see that the Lord shows his compassion in the way that he provides what we lack. The most notable part of this story is the miracle in the middle of it. It’s the display of compassion that we just can’t miss.

It’s so obvious, in fact, that Luke doesn’t go into a lot of detail about it. We can glean some more details from some of the other gospels, but Luke just presents it here without a lot of explanation, just hear it happen, because it’s so obvious, this part of the story, that there was they didn’t have. There was something they needed.

It wasn’t something they wanted. You know, he’s not providing the trip to France that Reuben talked about that I would love to have, but I don’t really need. He’s not providing that, but something they needed like their daily bread, he’s going to take care of it.

The reality here is that, like I said, there were probably 20 to 25,000 people who are in this remote place. They didn’t have ready access to food. They didn’t have ready access to lodging.

Even the disciples’ plan of sending them out, if they went out into all these little villages, there’s a good chance there’s not enough of those things to go around for everybody there. Once everybody dispersed, or even if everybody dispersed, it would have been difficult to supply everybody on this short notice. They were in a difficult situation.

But Jesus was able to meet the need. And so he has everybody, when we get to verse 14, sit down in these manageable groups, these groups of about 50, and he began to distribute the little bit of food that was available. Like I said, they had five loaves and two fishes.

That’s probably two little dried fish that they would have had. This was a little boy’s lunch that he’d brought with him. And we’re not talking five loaves of sandwich bread like we’d buy at the store, probably something closer to a a biscuit or a tortilla, something smaller.

Had five of those. And Jesus just begins to take those apart, hand it out to the disciples. And I would love to have seen how that worked.

As he’s just pulling it away, it just never seems to end. And I know for the more skeptical among us, that may be a kind of a challenge to understand. How’s he pulling some away and there’s still more.

I mean, you’re defying the laws of physics. It is a challenge to understand until you remind yourself that if He spoke the universe into existence, if He spoke to nothing and commanded it to be something, this is not a hard thing for Him. And so He begins to take it and tear it and distribute it, and as He does, it just keeps multiplying.

And He multiplied this food. By the way, He gave thanks for it and blessed it and began to multiply it. And He multiplied the food everyone was full.

That word satisfied says they were bursting. Some commentators say here that the Greek word is tied to the idea of an animal gorging itself on what you put out before it. One of those nights she was so worried I wasn’t going to feed her, I made Jojo hot dogs with sauerkraut, and she said, this is so good, I’m going to keep eating until I get sick.

I was like, Please don’t do that. But finally, she just could not take one more bite, and she was full. I’ve never seen it in six years that she was full, but she was finally full.

That was them. They ate until they couldn’t eat anymore. And they were satisfied.

And when John MacArthur was preaching on this passage, he pointed out that Jesus was creating the food right in front of them, that that was probably the best loaves and fishes any of them ever tasted. Probably the reason why they sat there and kept eating. You ever had something that’s so good that you know you should stop eating, you’re going to be sick, but you keep eating because it’s so good?

That was probably what they experienced. But these people had a real need. Now, to us, it seems like a mundane need.

They were hungry, but it was a real need. They didn’t know where they were going to get the food from. Jesus didn’t have to feed them.

Jesus could have sent them away to fend for themselves. But he had compassion on them. And he met their need.

He provides what we lack. Verse 17, I love this. I got so excited about this, I had to go out and see who was in the office because I had to tell somebody.

And poor Christy just got an earful because she was the only one there. But the Lord plans for our future. If we look at the end of verse 17 here, we can’t overlook the 12 baskets.

These were not scraps. When it says fragments, it’s talking about the pieces that he pulled off and distributed. There were 12 baskets of those left.

And I think when I was a kid, I thought it was just the scraps that people left on the ground. No, this was food that Jesus distributed, that they just had more than they needed, and there were 12 baskets full. Enough exactly left over to fill 12 baskets, one for each disciple.

And this is one of those things that I’ve heard so many people say stuff about over the years that I’m just, I think it sounds good, but I need more information. I’ve heard one preacher say that by handing each of them a basket, the 12 of them, it’s symbolic of the 12 tribes of Israel, and he’s founding a new Israel that was the church. Like, that sounds good, but I feel like there should be something in Scripture to back that up, and I don’t see that.

So I was digging in this week, saying, what are the 12 baskets about? They’re recorded because it happened, but Jesus didn’t do things by accident. And what I found is that these are baskets that are called kofinoi in the text, and these are small baskets that you could put something in.

I don’t think we’re talking big laundry hamper baskets, which is what I was led to believe as a child. These are little carrying baskets. And as I got to research the history a little bit more, those kofinoi were used specifically for Jewish travelers to carry food in, clean food, for provisions as they were traveling through Gentile lands like Samaria.

This feeding of the 5,000 is one of the final big events of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee before He starts working His way south. And as they work their way south, they were about to head into Gentile lands, and they were about to head into Samaria. And I thought, that cannot be a coincidence.

That cannot be a coincidence. once I saw that Jesus is preparing them for what they’re about to do. There was enough for each individual disciple, and I think part of the purpose of that was so each of them, oh, here, you didn’t think there was enough food?

Here’s a basket for you. You didn’t think here’s a basket for you. They’ve each got their own individual basket, so they can be reminded of His power and His provision.

but also Jesus showing compassion by planning for their future. He has a plan for each of them. He’s going to send them on his behalf, and he’s going to go with them part of the time, but he’s going to send them on his behalf through these Gentile lands, and they’ve just been provided for.

Folks, it’s not just true of the disciples. Each and every believer has a calling that God has planned and placed on our lives. God has a plan for you.

That doesn’t mean it’s always a fun plan to our flesh, but it means God has a design for how He intends to use you for His glory and how your life can be lived for the fullest or to the fullest for His kingdom. And whatever that plan is, he already has the provision in mind. And I believe that’s what the 12 baskets were about, preparing them for what they were about to do.

And sometimes the compassion of Jesus just shows up for us in the way that he’s already prepared the road ahead for what he’s called us to do. and then the fourth way his compassion shows up we have to go back to verse 11 and there’s the very fact that jesus engaged with these people when he was trying to rest he was giving them one more opportunity these folks in galilee like I said he’s about to leave galilee not too long after this and he’s giving them one more opportunity. He could have just said, I’m not doing this today, but there’s a crowd here wanting to hear about the kingdom, and he’s going to make sure they’re taught.

We’re getting close to the end of the day, and the disciples say we’ve got to send them away. Jesus does what he can or what he needs to in order to keep that crowd there so he can continue to teach them, because for some of these people, this may be their last opportunity. and while he has the opportunity Jesus is teaching them about the kingdom calling them to repent calling them to the Lord sort of like when you have a loved one that you know is about to leave on a long trip and you’re not going to see them for a long time you try to make the time last but Charles’ brother just left to go back to Hawaii and my lovely wife I can’t even tell you how much we owe the turnpike authority for the money spent going to the city to see him every opportunity.

And I understand that. Completely understand that. Just want one more opportunity to see my family.

Jesus was giving them one more opportunity. I have a chance here to teach them. I’m going to take it.

Part of the way his compassion shows up is that he persists in calling us to repent. He will give us one more opportunity. He’ll give us one more opportunity.

When our patients would have run out with somebody, he’s going to give them one more opportunity. Peter talks about this. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise.

Why has God not brought all this to an end? Why has God not punished the guilty? Why has God not done any of this yet?

It’s not because God is unjust. It’s not because God doesn’t care about justice. It’s because he’s given one more opportunity to repent. The question Frank Turek asks is, if God were to destroy all evil at midnight, would I be there at 1201?

He gives us room to repent. And I believe the very fact that he engaged with these people and that he kept them around as long as he could, he’s giving them one more opportunity to hear the word before he leaves Galilee. and if you’re hearing these words today and you’ve never trusted him as your savior he’s giving you today an opportunity to repent none of us are promised a certain number of opportunities but god is merciful and god is compassionate not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

His ultimate display of compassion came substantially later than this on the cross. Nobody took Jesus’ life from him. He made it clear he had the power to lay it down and he had the power to take it up again.

He died voluntarily as a sacrifice to pay for my sin and for yours. That was the ultimate demonstration of his compassion. That’s why Paul said, God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

If we ever question whether God cares, whether God loves us, whether God has compassion, we have to look no further than the cross. Jesus paid for your sin, and he paid for it in full so that you could be right with God, so you could have a relationship with the God who loved you and created you and created you to walk with him. and he shows his compassion every day by giving one more opportunity, one more day to repent.

If you’ve never trusted him as your savior, it’s very simple. We have to understand that our sin has separated us from God. Our sin is offensive to God, and because God is just, our sin has to be punished.

But because God is compassionate, He made a way where that punishment didn’t have to destroy us. And so Jesus came and willingly took responsibility for my sin and for yours. And He was punished in our place.

He died in our place so that we could be forgiven. And He rose again three days later to prove it. And if we understand that, that our sin separated us from God, but we believe Jesus paid for it in full and rose again, the only thing that we have to do is to turn to him and ask for that forgiveness, believing that he provided everything that was necessary, and we’ll have it.

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