This week we will continue to explore 7 ways Jesus showed love, love that we can seek to replicate to those around us.

2. Compassion

“He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
Matthew 27:42

Perhaps one of the most consistent themes of how Jesus demonstrated his love was through his compassion. The bible records lots of times when Jesus looked out and ‘having compassion on them’ would speak, act and help. One of the striking things for me about Jesus’ compassion is that he had every reason not to show compassion but actually be looking for it for himself!

Jesus was constantly mis-understood, men lied about him, stirred up trouble for him, plotted against him, accused him falsely and schemed to murder him. He was publicly ridiculed, beaten, treated with utter contempt and brutally murdered, publicly humiliating him before a vast audience. 

Yet in spite of this, Jesus didn’t grasp at a thread of compassion for himself, asking people to 

feel sorry for him, instead he even gave his compassion to those who were doing this to him. 

“Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him!”

It might seem like a strange way of reflecting on compassion and how Jesus showed love, but it is so easy for us to look for and need compassion that we render ourselves unable to show compassion to others. Jesus, even through the deepest darkest moments in his life, was still moved with the most profound love and compassion for others. 

Image Credit: Jon Tyson