Matthew tells us that Jesus sees the crowd sympathetically, as "harassed and helpless". But were these not the same people who had rebelled against God in ages past: wanting to return to Egypt, asking for a king, worshipping idols, and practicing child sacrifice? Moreover, is this not the same crowd who in a few short years would turn on Jesus and assent to his execution, declaring, “His blood is on us and on our children” (Matt. 27:25)?
Jesus knew the complexity of motives, longings, and desires in the human heart. He knew the selfishness and the hard-heartedness. He was tempted, and he sympathized with their weakness (Heb. 4:15). What we see in Jesus is not a superficial compassion, but one that sees and recognizes the complexities of human experience – nay, the depravity of it – and loves us the same. For we are in the crowd, that day in Galilee and on the day he was killed: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:7)
So when Jesus says that they are “harassed and helpless”, that is not all he sees; he sees each of us in our entirety, as whole beings, not reduced to a single element or experience. Moreover, Jesus’s compassion is not based on some balancing of good and evil actions or on proximity to or distance from power. It is not circumstantial or contingent. Rather, it is core to God’s very nature, as Isaiah (55:7-9) writes:
“Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
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This is a mercy— a compassion—that we can rely on, and that we see Jesus exemplifying when he looks at the crowd. He does not despise them or disdain their weakness. He is the shepherd that they need, though it costs him his life. Jesus later declares (John 10:10-11) that:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
How might we respond? First, to recognize and internalize the deep reality of God’s mercy and love for each of us, to see ourselves in the crowd in all our humanity. It is tempting to try to shortcut this step— to jump to emulating Jesus in showing compassion to others. This is the error of Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8). When we commit Simon’s error we are tempted to treat people as abstractions and our actions and intentions as preeminent. Only when we know that God sees all of us and loves us the same are we able to look at others with his eyes, with his compassion. This is our charge, as Paul exhorts the Ephesian church in his vision of unity for the church, and, ultimately, humanity:
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
(Submitted by Peter York)