Sabbath Devotional :: Moved With Compassion

Photo by Adam Nemeroff via Unsplash license

I have been working my way through Jeffrey R. Holland’s book “Our Day Star Rising,” and a few weeks ago, I came across his commentary on Matthew 9:36-38:

But when [Christ] saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Then saith he unto the disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Like many of you, I have always read these verses as applicable to missionary work and missionaries in the traditional sense. But I loved how Holland suggested that these verses mean much more than just that. I will quote him at length:

I wish to suggest today that in context is surely is a call to heal one another as well. Jesus certainly did missionary work, and He did that first. But as He went about preaching and teaching, He bound up all manner of wounds in the process.

The verse summarizing all of this, coming just before the calling of the Twelve Apostles and their charge to do likewise, says “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages [. . .] healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” (Matthew 9:35)

On the example of the Savior Himself and His call to His Apostles, and with the need for peace and comfort ringing in our ears, I ask you to be a healer, to be a helper, be someone who joins in the work of Christ in lifting burdens, in making the load lighter, in making things better.

[L]ots of people on your right hand and on your left are carrying bumps and bruises that they hope will be healed and made whole. Someone within reasonable proximity to you today is carrying a spiritual or physical or emotional burden of some sort or an affliction drawn from life’s catalog of a thousand kinds of sorrow.

In the spirit of Christ’s first invitation to Philip and Andrew and then to Peter and the whole of his Twelve Apostles, jump into this work. Help people. Heal old wounds, and try to make things better. In short, I ask you to “follow Him.”

As these verses state, many of the sheep today are scattered due to all sorts of wounds, seen and unseen, and insecurities and vulnerabilities, known and unknown, and they do not always know where to turn to for relief, help, and healing. So many of our fellow siblings feel alone, isolated, defeated, and worn down. And like Christ, our call is to be moved with compassion toward them.

Compassion — means co-suffering. Here at MWEG, we often talk about suffering as sacred. It’s not surface-level or shallow. It’s deep, emotional labor. It’s the essence of the gospel in many ways. Suffering with people is not easy labor. That’s why Christ says, “the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.”

However, that is Christ’s invitation and call to us today to be labourers with him in healing, to “mourn with those that mourn” and “comfort those that stand in need of comfort.”

Christ, as the master healer, is inviting us to engage in the deep healing work around us that is so desperately needed. He is asking us to bind wounds that have been ignored, downplayed, or mistreated.

He is asking us to labor in creating Zion, the beloved community, by recognizing the healing work that is so keenly needed. He is asking us work to improve and better our communities.

As Joy F. Evans said:

“Almost every day we have the opportunity to feed the hungry, to visit the sick, to help bear one another’s burdens, even as the Savior taught. Sometimes the service is given to our family, our children, our husbands or wives, our parents, our loved ones. Sometimes it is a neighbor or a friend in need, sometimes a stranger. Having compassion on those who are hurting for whatever reason and then translating the response of the heart into the needed act is truly ministering as God would have us do.”