Mark 1:41 - Homiletics

"Moved with compassion."

There is something in human nature which draws men towards the great, the powerful, the prosperous—an impulse not altogether good. And there is something which attracts men towards the good and pure—a holy and admirable impulse. But there is yet another tendency, which impels souls towards the needy, the sorrowful, the sinful; and this is all Divine. For "God has gladness for those who are glad, and pity for those who are sad." We see this last-named impulse, in all its beauty and power, in the character and the ministry of Emmanuel.

I. THE IMPULSE OF COMPASSION WITHIN THE SOUL OF JESUS .

1 . Observe what excited this emotion; it was ever the too familiar spectacle of human want and suffering, trouble and sin. Passio leads to compassio. Moving about among the people and accessible to all comers, Jesus could not but meet with innumerable cases of human misery, fitted to excite feelings of profoundest pity. The helpless babe, the untaught and neglected multitude, the powerless paralytic, the loathsome leper, the foaming lunatic, the furious demoniac, the crippled beggar, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the bereaved widow, the mourning sister, the sinful woman, the dying thief,—all these alike were the object of Christ's commiseration and sympathy.

2 . Ponder the emotion itself. To some minds it seems that to attribute such feeling to Deity derogates from the dignity of God. But Christianity reveals to us something nobler, and worthier of our worship and our love, than an impassive and impersonal Law presiding over the destinies of the universe. If the Old Testament represents in words the long-suffering and tender mercy of Jehovah, in the New Testament God in Christ lives among men, susceptible to all their wants and woes, touched with a feeling of their infirmities. If the Old Testament astonishes us by the declaration concerning God, "In all their afflictions he was afflicted," the 1%w Testament depicts one" moved with compassion," who asserts, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."

II. THE PRACTICAL EXPRESSION OF COMPASSION . Sentiment is divinely implanted in the human breast; but it is implanted as the root from which actions and habits corresponding with it are designed to grow. Those have been well denounced by the poet—

"Who, nursed in mealy-mouthed philanthropies,

Divorce the feeling from her mate, the deed.

Compassion is represented in the text as a principle of action. The Lord Jesus did feel, he did sigh over, human sorrows, and groan over human unbelief, and weep over human ingratitude. But his feelings did not evaporate thus; they acted as the motive-power to deeds of charity and of helpfulness. When "moved with compassion," Jesus "stretched forth his hand," and healed, saved, and blessed the object of his gracious commiseration. He was not only tender to feel, he was mighty to save. The very names by which he is known are a monument of his practical compassion—he is the Redeemer and the Saviour of mankind.

III. THE HUMAN RESPONSE TO THE DIVINE COMPASSION OF CHRIST . A quality so beautiful in itself and so benignant in its operation cannot but exercise a mighty power over the whole nature of those for whose benefit it is displayed. Accordingly, we find that our Lord's pity has exercised such a power in two directions.

1 . Christ's compassion becomes the spring of a new moral life in the hearts of his people. When Jesus brings to a soul gladness and peace, can it be matter of wonder that gratitude, love, and devotion become principles of a new nature, a new life? What more natural? "The love of Christ constraineth us."

2 . Christ's compassion becomes the inspiration and the example of the compassion of his Church. It is not enough to admire; we are called to copy. Compassion is a" note" of the Christian life, a feeling to be cherished, a habit to be formed. Thus our Lord has introduced among men a new standard of virtue and a new type of character. If the influence of such parables as the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan has been great, what must have been the influence exercised by the incarnation and the sacrifice of Christ ? The function and office of the redeemed Church of Emmanuel is, being moved with compassion, to minister unto mankind, and to bring the weary, the suffering, and the sinful unto him who never breaks the bruised reed nor quenches smoking flax.