Loving People

I've been reading the Gospel of Matthew lately. In chapter 14 Jesus gets the news that his cousin and fellow preacher, John the Baptizer, has just been beheaded in prison. By the passage we can tell that it probably hit Jesus hard, but what follows really struck me. Take a quick look...

13When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
15As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."
16Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
17"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
18"Bring them here to me," he said. 19And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
27But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
28"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
29"Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
34When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

John the Baptizer sort of seems like a minor character to us because there's not a whole lot of paragraphs devoted to him in the scriptures. But Jesus had exceptionally high praise for him (Luke 7:24-28), and the 1st century historian Josephus actually writes more about John than about Jesus (partly because John publicly confronted King Herod about his marriage to his brother's wife). So when Jesus learns of John's martyrdom, he wants to be alone, which we read about in verse 13.

But it's hard for Jesus to just get away from it all. People are always looking for Him, and sure enough, the people catch up. And instead of saying, "Give me some space!" Jesus "had compassion on them and healed their sick", even though His heart was heavy. Not only that, but his time with the crowds went late into the day (v.15) and He then took the time to feed them miraculously.

His long day continues. Jesus finds some time alone again, but then He sees from a distance that His disciples are in serious trouble on the lake, and He heads out (between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m.) walking on the water to save them and teach them another lesson in faith. And sure enough, when they land He ends up healing the sick in yet another location.

What do I take away from this chapter? Jesus felt a great deal of compassion for people, even when weighed down by His own emotional burdens. He just really cared about people in their need. I know I could follow Jesus' example much more--I need to keep my eyes open to folks around me who could use some compassion. I can't miraculously heal diseases or control the weather, but maybe I can be a good listener to someone who's having a bad time. Maybe I could proactively encourage someone, or keep an eye out for someone who looks lonely, or mow a busy neighbor's lawn, or stop by to visit someone in a hospital/nursing home, or give a Wal-Mart gift card to someone who's struggling financially, or provide free babysitting to a frazzled mom...

There's an old children's song that I think has a powerful message. It goes:
Jesus and others and you,
what a wonderful way to spell "Joy"
Jesus and others and you
in the life of each girl and each boy.
J is for Jesus, for He takes first place,
O is for others you meet face to face
Y is for you, and whatever you do,
Put yourself last and spell joy.

May we show love to others as Jesus did.