The Compassionate One

With the title of our study today, The Compassionate One. The Compassionate One. I invite you to take your Bibles, and let's open our Bibles together, to Luke chapter 7. The seventh chapter of Luke, and we're going to begin in verse 1. And we're going to read through verse 17 here. While there are many beautiful aspects of Jesus Christ's character, that we could focus on all throughout Scripture, one of the most striking to look at in the study is His compassion. The compassion of Jesus Christ. And that's what we're going to begin to read in this passage. In my Bible, there are two headings given. There, before the first verse, Jesus heals a centurion's servant. And then the second title in mind, it might be similar in yours, there before verse 11. Jesus raises the son of the widow of Nyan. So two incredible encounters here to see His compassion. Luke 7. Let's begin reading in verse 1.

Luke 7 verse 1. Now, when He concluded all His saints in the hearing of the people, He, that's Jesus Christ, entered Capernaum. And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear to Him, so this is a servant who was dear to the centurion, was sick and ready to die. So when He, the centurion, heard about Jesus, He sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal His servant. And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving. For He loves our nation and has built us a synagogue. So they're speaking of the centurion. Verse 6. Then Jesus went with them, and when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. Therefore, I didn't even think myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, Go, and He goes, and to another, Come, and He comes, and to my servant, Do this, and He does it.

Now when Jesus heard these things, He marveled at Him, turned around, and said to the crowd that followed Him, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick. Verse 11. Our second encounter here. Verse 11. Now it happened the day after that He went into the city called Nahun, and many of His disciples went with Him in a large crowd. And when He, Jesus, came near to the gate of the city, behold, the dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said to her, Do not weep. Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried Him stood still. And He said, Young man, I say to you, arise. And He who was dead sat up and began to talk. And He presented Him to His mother. Verse 16. Then fear came upon them all, they glorified God, saying, A great prophet has risen up among us, and God has visited His people. And this report about Him went throughout all the Judea and all the surrounding region. So let's stop there. So while we've stopped at verse 17, before we get into these wonderful encounters of compassion and healing, I want to just notice something here briefly in the little section that follows. This will set up the rest of our study today. Because what we discover in the next two verses is that these healing encounters that we just read about, they're actually reported back to John the Baptist. John the Baptist was in prison, and we know he was the forerunner. John the Baptist had been so clear in pointing to Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. But despite all of that, what we discover in the next two verses is that John the Baptist was having doubts. And as these healing encounters, as the stories were being reported back to him, it actually causes doubt to arise in John. Look at this, verse 18 and 19. Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things. In his response, verse 19, and John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, Are you the coming one, or do we look for another? Let's stop there. Very interesting. So after John's in prison, and after John hears these reports of these healing encounters, he dispatches two of his disciples to Jesus Christ with what is a very strange question, really. And he says, just go check. I want you to go to Jesus Christ, and I want you to ask him, Are you the one? Are you really the one? Or should we be looking for someone else? It's really a surprising question, because how could someone like John the Baptist, who's been so clear in his position in history, and in his position in God's plan and purposes, John the Baptist, the one who came, stood on the stage of human history, and say and point out, You see that man coming? He's the Lamb of God, the one who has come to take the sin from the world. I'm not even worthy to untie his sandals. All that had already occurred. And now he finds himself in prison in verse 18 and 19. He hears of these healing and compassionate encounters, calls his friends and says, just go and check. You know, don't make a fuss about it. Just go and check and say, I just want to know if we're on the right track here. Are you the one?

And we could say, of course, it's an indication of John's humanity, his vulnerability, of course.

But I think we can also see in this another issue that was with John the Baptist. And it relates specifically to the compassion of Jesus Christ. We're not going to belabor this, but it is relevant to our topic today regarding John the Baptist and the compassion that Jesus Christ was now bringing. You'll remember about John the Baptist in his early preaching. He was very humble, but he was very forceful. You remember one encounter where he began when John the Baptist began preaching and preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ? He began in a Judean valley with this phrase, you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the coming wrath. Wonderful start, you know. I thought about starting that way today, but I thought better.

Might be a little off-putting. But if you examine John the Baptist preaching, you'll discover it's very straightforward. And it's about destruction. It's about wrath. It's about fire. It's about judgment. It's all good stuff. And it's all profitable stuff. It's very striking. It's very clear. But now he's observing the ministry of Jesus Christ.

And he's finding that most of the notes in which he sounded are seemingly silent, for the most part, in the preaching of his master, Jesus Christ. And in general, in general, that Jesus Christ is about something else here. All the things John said, the axe is already at the root of the trees. The fire is already kindled for burning. John's sitting now in prison, wondering where all the trees are being chopped. I don't see any fire blazing here, like I expected. Why not? Why was John feeling this doubt?

Well, I believe that John the Baptist had to learn something, and perhaps we need to learn this as well. And it's this, that the ushering in of the coming kingdom of God at Christ's first coming, the kingdom was not going to be ushered in spectacular, dramatic victories over powers and authorities at that time, over political forces and so on.

But in actuality, the ushering in of the coming kingdom of God was going to primarily be seen in works of mercy and compassion. And it was going to be the compassion of Jesus Christ, which was going to cause in the men and women the most dramatic transformation. And they would feel it throughout the world.

And we see this in the response of Jesus to John's question of, Are you the one? Look at verse 22 and 23. Jesus answered and said to them, this is Jesus's answer to John's inquiry. He says, Go and tell John the things that you have seen and heard. And look at this. Look at this response that the blind see the lame walk.

The lepers are clean. The deaf hear the dead or raised. The poor have heard the gospel preached to them. So all these acts of compassion. And he says, Blessed is he who's not offended because of me.

So he's correcting John's thinking and he's bringing compassion into John's experience here. And when you begin to read the Gospel of Luke, you see it all through the Gospel that compassion is at the forefront of the ministry. And Jesus is striking these compassion notes throughout all of his ministry. Let's see at one other really clear place. It's actually in Luke chapter 4. Let's turn there for just a moment to notice this before we get into these two encounters. Luke 4 beginning in verse 17.

Here's a particular example of Jesus Christ striking the compassion notes in his ministry. Let me set the scene here. Jesus is returning to Galilee. He's going to the synagogue here in Nazareth. And he's about to quote Isaiah to the people. And I want you to notice what he quotes. But even more importantly, we're going to notice what he doesn't quote. What he doesn't quote. They give us an indication here of Jesus's purpose and compassion.

So Luke chapter 4, let's read verses 17 through 20. This is speaking of Jesus Christ. Luke says, Luke 4 verse 17. Luke records that he, Jesus, was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he opened the book, he found the place where it was written. Verse 18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he's anointed me. To preach the gospel to the poor, he has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Then, verse 20, he closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down, and the eyes of all that were there in the synagogue were fixed on him. So, very compassionate notes that he's sounding here, and here in chapter 4. And he's quoting the prophet Isaiah. Now, he's quoting from Isaiah 61. And if you're nimble enough, if you'll put your marker here, keep it in Luke. We're going to come back to Luke.

But Isaiah 61, you can turn there, or I can just read it to you. I just want to read to you what he would, where he was quoting from the prophet Isaiah 61 in verse 1. And what I wanted us to notice here is just the portion that he quotes from the prophet Isaiah, and where I think he stopped and stopped purposefully.

Isaiah 61 verse 1. Let's look at this. So, this is going to be the words in which Jesus just quoted. And Isaiah was speaking of the coming of Jesus Christ. So, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Isaiah says.

Isaiah 61 verse 1. Because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Let's stop there. Interesting. That's where Jesus stopped there, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Close the book, gave it back to the attendant. But you'll notice Isaiah doesn't stop here. Look at the second verse, verse 2 again of Isaiah 61, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God.

Vengeance. You see that? So, Jesus stopped right there, didn't go on to quote, and the day of vengeance of our God. Why? Why do you think Jesus Christ stopped there, closed the book, gave it back to the attendant? Well, it might be purposeful. And it's not that there isn't a day of vengeance coming. We know there is. We know there's a day of vengeance coming. When?

At his second coming, isn't it? And he presumably stops just before that, because the day of vengeance isn't now. Vengeance wasn't coming at the time of Christ's first coming. The day of vengeance at that time in history, at Christ's first coming, wasn't to be at that moment. Now, there was vengeance, certainly a day of vengeance, at Christ's first coming. But we see that it's a wrath that's going to be poured out on him. He took the wrath of God upon himself on our behalf, didn't he? But at his first coming, in fulfilling his ministry, he would take the punishment, the wrath that we deserved upon himself.

But primarily, in fulfilling his ministry and his first coming, it was going to be supremely a ministry of compassion and mercy.

It is at the time of Christ's first coming, his kindness, which was to make the biggest impact on you and I. It was going to be his kindness, his grace, his mercy, his compassion, which was to move you and I to live righteously. We won't turn there, but you can read it in Titus 2.

Titus 2 states, it's his grace and kindness which is to teach us to deny ungodliness. His grace, his kindness is to teach us to live righteously. His first coming, it's his compassion which was going to make the biggest impact on you and I in humanity. That's why we see his compassion on full display.

And so, it's with that understanding, you know, when you begin to understand these things and you begin to apply it to yourself. One of the things I apply to myself after reading this is, do I have a little bit too much of the spirit of John the Baptist in me sometimes? You know, where immediately I'm wanting to see individuals not acting correctly in our society. And I get this feeling in me that I want to call down fire or destruction on people.

And when we do so and we have that spirit, sometimes we wonder then, why are they so disinterested in my story? Why are my appeals to them so unappealing? Well, maybe it's because I need a little bit more balance. A little bit more balance pursuing Jesus Christ's approach. Maybe I need to pursue some of Jesus Christ's compassion here. This is the overarching aspect of his first coming that we see. So, throughout all of this, we can apply it to ourselves in that way. And in these two little incidences here in Luke 7, this is what we're seeing. It's two incidences amongst so many acts of compassion by Jesus Christ. So, let's turn back to Luke 7, if you will. Luke 7 and verse 1 again, where we began our study. I think this is a moment where John the Baptist was stricken by Jesus Christ's compassion. I think John the Baptist, maybe he was there hanging in that jail and he's wanting vengeance. He's thinking, I prepared you to come. Where's the vengeance? I'm still hanging here. You're performing acts of mercy and compassion. And I'm here in jail. Maybe he was feeling that way. So, Luke 7, as we turn there, again, we do see compassion on full display here. And we see in Luke 7 two very sad households. The first is the household of the centurion. Let me sketch this in a little bit in the context here. If you were a centurion at that time, you would have been an officer. An officer. And you would have had prominence and command in the community. I won't delay too much on the historical part. One historian, Polybius. You know Polybius, the historian, right? Of course. Of course. Old Polybius. Well, he was a historian. Let me read you a quote regarding centurions. Quote, he says, as such these men, these centurions, must not be so much seekers after danger as men who can command, but they must be steady in action, reliable. They ought not be over anxious to rush into a fight, but when hard pressed, they must be ready to hold their ground, die at their posts. Unquote. So you see the kind of man that we're dealing with here in this centurion and who we're introduced to. He's that kind of nature of a man. He has servants in his house.

Servants at that time in the Roman culture, they were not treated very well at all. They were looked down upon, the lowest in the class. They were often sold and bought, even killed or treated harshly. I was reading just about servants at that time, and here's another quote regarding servants. This writer references and compares them to farming tools, of all things. He says, quote, a farmer ought to examine his implements every year and to throw out those which are old and broken. And he goes on to add, and I suggest that you do the same with your servants. You know, it's so horrible. If you were a servant, it was not a good position to be in. Centurion, strong, in control, running his household, ready for the challenge. He said, servants treated as the lowest of the low.

And certainly this Centurion should have treated this servant and looked down upon him, threw him out. You know, he's broken. Ah, not this Centurion. He's different, wonderfully different. Because in his household, you'll notice verse 2, it says, his servant was dear to him. Dear to him. But his servant was sick and ready to die. You know, those words that his servant was dear to him. That speaks volumes about this particular man that we were looking at here. Presumably, he would have come down in the morning, greeted the other servants in the house. He would have said, you know, how is Gaius doing? You know, we don't know the name of the servant. That was a common name from what I understand, like Joe. How's Gaius doing? Well, there's no obvious change in him, I'm afraid. Oh, dear. And in fact, Vos, he's sick and about to die. So verse 3, so when he, the Centurion, heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, pleading with him to come and heal his servant. That's quite a phrase. The Centurion heard about Jesus. How? How did he hear about Jesus? We don't know. We don't want to get too sidetracked off of this, but you'll notice that there's, throughout the Bible, there's these seemingly insignificant people that display significant acts in the gospel of God.

This may have been an incident where the servant told their boss about Jesus. I don't think that would be too much of a stretch. We know it was a servant of Jesus. But he was a prophet of Nahum. You remember that story? When Nahum was sick, the servant told his mistress about a prophet of God, Elisha, that he could be healed. Maybe it's along those lines. Someone told the Centurion about Jesus and his healing and his compassion.

And in hearing about it, he sent the elders, it says, of the Jews to him. So the Centurion sent the elders of the Jews to Jesus Christ. That might have been purposeful. The Centurion was not a Jew, so sent some elders of the Jews. Maybe they could relate. They can represent me on behalf of my servant. I believe that's what's happening here. But you'll notice how the elders approached Jesus. Verse 4. Verse 4. They began to approach Jesus. And it's very interesting their approach, because they come to Jesus on the strength of the Centurion. I wonder if you notice that. Verse 4. Verse 4. And when they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying that the one for whom he should do this was deserving. So they're talking about the Centurion. For he loves our nation and has built us a synagogue. So a completely wrong approach, you know, because they approach Jesus not in humility, but they approach him displaying the Centurion's strength. You know, you should do this, Jesus, because this man has done a lot for us. He loves, you know, he loves his nation. He actually built us a synagogue. So why don't you come and do something for him? So coming on the strength of the work of the Centurion. Wrong approach. Wrong approach. Now, the Centurion realizes this is the wrong approach, I believe, because no doubt there was word given back to the Centurion. We don't know the distance, really, but there may have been someone that reports back to the Centurion and said to him, you're not going to believe this, boss. They actually went and found Jesus, and they started, and they mentioned that your servant's sick and about to die. But they went and started talking about you and how great you are and all that you've done. And I don't think that's what the Centurion had in mind at all, because look at verses 6-8. Jesus is approaching, and the Centurion now sends his friends to Jesus, knowing that Jesus is coming. Verse 6, Then when Jesus went with them, so Jesus is returning with the elders, and when he, Jesus, was not already far from the house, the Centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. For I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. So, oh, Jesus, I didn't realize you were going to come, and he's filled with humility here. Verse 7, Therefore I didn't even think myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers come under me. And I say to one, go when he goes, and to another come, and he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does this. Let's stop there. So, verse 6, Lord, that's a good start with his friends. Don't trouble yourself. You know, I don't even deserve you to come to me here. I'm not worthy to have you under my roof. I didn't even think I was worthy enough to come to you, he says. You know, not on the basis of what I've done, or that I'm worthy. I'm not significant enough for you to come under my roof to my servant to heal him. It's remarkable here. So we're beginning to see what's inside the centurion here. Such faith. Where does faith, this kind of faith come from, we could ask. You know, you marvel at these little instances that we see reported here, and Luke's very good with his details. What is this?

Well, I believe it's grace. I believe it's compassion, which has gripped the centurion's heart. And it's what grips our heart. That's the point we want to get across today. And when grace and compassion grip a heart, you come in humility. This is the response. You come and you come on bended knee. See, this is the dramatic impact that Jesus Christ brought in his first coming. So we might present ourselves strong in business, academics, athletics, military matters, just like the centurion. We may present ourselves strong, but when it comes to Jesus Christ, and we know all he's done for us, we come face down, face down in humility. And this is what the centurion is doing. A man of this stature doesn't say these words. Those are these kind of words don't come out of his mouth. It's very striking. And I believe, I believe we can see an indication here, that the centurion understood what the religious elders of the Jews didn't. They didn't get it. Because the Pharisees, the elders of the Jews, they always come from a position of strength and how they're doing. That's what you always see throughout Scripture. And that's what their approach is here. They come asking for mercy and healing and compassion from Jesus. And they come on the basis of the strength of the centurion. That's their approach. That's why that was always their approach.

They didn't get it. They didn't get it and weren't struck by Christ's grace and his compassion. They wanted to see him come and start overthrowing everything. Overthrow the political forces. Overthrow this. That wasn't Jesus's purpose in his first coming. But you see this throughout Scripture. We won't turn there. It's a familiar story. The older brother, the little brother, the prodigal son. You know that story. The older brother says, all these years, father, I have served in your house. You've never given me a party. But this son of yours, my younger brother, made a mess of things. And you've forgiven him and you've shown him mercy. And now you're throwing him a party and everybody's dancing. And the older brother wouldn't even come back in the house. So if you look at that story, the older brother is thinking of his strength. Think of what I've done in your house. You're not throwing me a party. You should be showing vengeance to my younger brother. Not inviting a man and throwing him a party.

This was a very striking thing for those at that time to get. And those that got it, got it. And they were moved toward a relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ. Those that didn't get it, didn't get it.

The Pharisees never understood the compassion of Jesus Christ. They could never understand mercy. We sing about it in our songs. The Lord's my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me down to lie. In green pastures he leadeth me. The quiet waters by. You know, and although I'm in death's dark veil, I will fear no ill for thou art with me. Thy rod and staff comfort still.

So it's always Jesus' compassion and His grace which we should embrace. And that makes the biggest dramatic impact on us, on men and women in humanity. Well, wonderful humility by the Centurion. And you see it in Luke's details. Verse 8. This is no little detail. He says, For I myself am a man placed under authority. So not of authority. Propositions matter. You know, prepositions matter. Not under authority. It's very clear. And I think what he's saying in these verses here, is he's saying, I have limited authority. I can say to men and women, come and go, go and come. But what he's putting forth here is he's letting Jesus know that he understands that Jesus Christ is the true authority. He says, I might be able to, on a limited basis, tell men and women certain things. But Jesus, you can look disease in the face, and you can tell diseases to go, and it will go. That's authority. That's command. So this is the posture that the centurions come into Jesus with. Very striking. And Jesus is amazed by it. Absolutely amazed. There in verse 9, Jesus heard these things coming from a centurion, and he marveled at him. And he turned around to the crowd that followed him, and he said, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.

There's only two places I've found where, and there might be more, where Jesus Christ marvels. The other place, we won't turn there, but it's Mark 6. But Jesus marvels at their unbelief. And if you read Mark 6, Mark 6, Jesus Christ is laying hands on the sick, and he's healing them, and doing all these acts of compassion. And then it says, and he marveled because of their unbelief.

So it was so... Jesus Christ just marveled that he could be doing these works of compassion, and they still didn't believe. They were dug in. They weren't in a position of humility to then receive unmerited grace and have that transform their lives.

So he's amazed by this centurion. Compassion's on full display here. And I just want to notice two things before we move on to the next story. Two things. I want you to notice that the outpouring of healing, it starts with humility, not promotion of the self. The healing comes and is initiated by humility and faith. Those are the two things. Humility and faith. Lord, say the word and my servant will be healed. There's no indecisiveness in that. Humility, faith. There's two things you want to get in your life that I want to get in my life. Those two things. That'll take you far. Humility and faith, that's what releases Christ's compassion upon us. So from the household of the Centurion onto another sad household of the widow. We're going to see Christ's compassion poured out upon a widow and her deceased son. So just a day later, verse 11, now it happened the day after that he, Jesus, went into the city called Nahin. Many of the disciples went with him in a large crowd. So this is about six miles here. Today's journey moving from the Centurion. Let me set the scene here. No doubt there would, as Jesus arrived, there would have been sounds of grief occurring. The details here, there were many of the widow's friends gathered outside of her homes. At that time, there would have been mourning, sad songs, flutes, cymbals. It would have reminded the widow of this was going to be the saddest of all days. She's a widow. She's a widow.

Therefore, no husband, of course, and now sunless. So she's at the end of her line here. She's at the very end of the line for her. No means of protection, provisions, options for a woman such as this, almost none in this environment. From the human perspective, she now faces unbelievable despair, sadness, loneliness on all fronts. Her predicament would have been well understood by the community. Therefore, Luke gives us the indication that a large crowd here had gathered. Verse 12, And he came near the gate of the city. As he comes, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother. She was a widow, and a large crowd from the city was with her. In this instance, they don't make a request to Jesus to get involved. Rather, in verse 13, we see that the Lord saw her. When the Lord saw her, verse 13, He had compassion on her, and said to her, Do not weep. I love that. So Jesus Christ sees her as compassion. He tells her, Do not weep. A compassionate shepherd watching over his flock.

Again, we apply this to ourselves. I apply this to myself. If we see people in a mess, maybe even a mess of their own doing, what's our response? Do we kick quicker to the methodology of John the Baptist, or to the compassion of Jesus Christ?

It's so easy to fall into the John the Baptist thinking. Look at them. Why don't they just pull their bootstraps up?

What a mess! What a mess!

But what we have to realize when we see individuals in a season of being a mess, we have to realize that we're looking at ourselves. We're looking at ourselves apart from the compassion of Jesus Christ and God the Father. Heir by the grace of God, we would be more of a mess than we already are.

This is what should drive us. This is compassion, grace, extending that to others. That's what's going to draw people to the message of the coming kingdom of God. It's going to make the most dramatic impact.

Be humble.

Give your heart. Let people know that you were a mess. God's given you grace. You're still a mess, but you have hope. It's a powerful message. This is what Jesus Christ was teaching so many at that time. Don't cry, he says. I found a poem. It really displays this moment of Jesus Christ.

You called the sheep without a shepherd to leave their distress. For your streams are forgiveness, and your shade in the shade of your rest. And with compassion for the hurting, you reached out your hand, and the lame ran to meet you, and the dead breathed again. You saw behind the eyes of sorrow and shared in our tears, heard the sigh of the weary, and let the children draw near.

So, into the extremity of the widow's life, Jesus Christ comes, the compassionate one. And what he does here in this story, only the resurrection and the life could ever do. Buddha could never do this. He's still in the grave. Muhammad could never accomplish this. Only the resurrection and the life could ever do what Jesus Christ does here. Verse 14, he comes and touches the coffin. I love that. That would have gotten the elders of the Jews spinning. You don't go and touch coffins. You don't touch coffins. You'll be defiled. You don't touch death. A Jew doesn't touch death. What are you doing? You touch the coffin. You touch the coffin. All these details, it's just they're meaningful. It's so meaningful. He was breaking down barriers, bringing compassion into the religious element's experience. He with all authority. This is so significant. Someone with such magnificence, vast resources, would stoop now to this no-named widow-woman, miserable circumstances. She buries her boy. In the middle of this, he comes and he touches and he speaks.

First, he touches the coffin. Verse 14 says, And those carrying it stood still. You bet your life they stood still.

You know, what is this? They could have never been prepared to see what happened next. Verse 14, Young man, he says, Wait, what? Who is he talking to? I think he's talking to the... No way. Wait, let's see. Young man, I say to you, arise. Verse 15. So he who was dead set up and began to speak. What do you think he said? Whoo! What a day.

How was your day?

And why? Why did the young man speak?

Well, it's because Jesus speaks in listening to his voice, new life, the dead receive. That's what happened in your life. Jesus Christ spoke into your life, opened your ears, opened your eyes, gave you an opportunity, new life you received. You were once dead, and now you were given an opportunity to life. Before you even...while you were still sinners, while I was still a sinner. Incredible compassion. He touched the coffin of our lives, if you will. So many symbolic gestures here.

And notice the end of verse 15. Wonderful grace. Jesus presents him to his mother. That's compassion. Your mother still needs you. You know, who knows what the boy said? He probably said, hey, Mom, you know, you can imagine just the tears, my son, here. So Jesus Christ doesn't simply come into our existence, our experience, and comment on our great enemies. He overcomes them. He has victory over sin, victory over sickness, victory over death. He hears the cry of the sorrowful. He hears your cries. He knows your cries. He's a great comforter. He has victory over it all. And he's the reuniter of separated dear loved ones. And what he did for this boy, he will one day do for all of mankind. All the mankind will have this opportunity to receive new life.

And I want to tell you, we sang it just before this sermon, it won't be long now. To all people join hands from many a land, it won't be long now. Till children will smile and will laugh all the while. It won't be long. When this kind of compassion that they'll receive.

But in the meantime, it's our responsibility to express this love, grace, compassion to others.

That's what's going to change hearts. Why study these healing, compassionate encounters? Well, I want you to know that personally, in your life personally, into the sadness of your circumstances, the compassionate one comes. And he reaches out to us and touches us in our circumstances to bring full comfort and final comfort one day. And again, I want you to know that and again, he will raise all people. He will reunite us, reunite us with dear loved ones, and he will destroy the very thing that has separated us from those individuals. But until that day, let's bring compassion into the experience of those around us. Let's become more like him. Tonight, let's think of things that we're grateful for. Think of things that he has shown you such love and compassion. And then get on your knees if you're able, or sit in a quiet place and pray. And just have a prayer of just thanking him. That's it. Don't ask him for anything. Just thank him. And then, well, you can ask him one thing. Ask him that he help you to be more like him. Ask him to help you bring compassion into the lives of others in an impactful way.

Let's pray and just think about and ponder our wonderful elder brother, our compassionate Savior, Jesus Christ.