March 22 Sermon

March 22

 

Introduction

 

As we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection victory, we have been tracking Jesus’ words from the cross.

 

The fourth of these is a word of compassion.

 

 Jesus said to his mother, Mary, “Woman, behold, your son!”

 

And to his disciple, John, “Behold, your mother!” (John 19:26, 27).

 

As we focus on those words today, we consider the depth of God’s compassion.

 

 

God had compassion on Mary once before and Mary rejoiced in a prayer we call the Magnificat

 

She had been talking to Elizabeth about being chosen to be the mother of Messiah

 

Luke 1:46-54 (NASB)
⁴⁶  And Mary said: "My soul exalts the Lord,
⁴⁷  And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
⁴⁸  "For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
⁴⁹  "For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name.
⁵⁰  "AND HIS MERCY IS UPON GENERATION AFTER GENERATION TOWARD THOSE WHO FEAR HIM.
⁵¹  "He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
⁵²  "He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble.
⁵³  "HE HAS FILLED THE HUNGRY WITH GOOD THINGS; And sent away the rich empty-handed.
⁵⁴  "He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy,

 

 

 

 

 

Compassion is a feeling of deep sympathy for another, accompanied by a desire to help.

 

 In the New Testament, the Greek word for compassion implies a feeling “in the gut.”

 

Compassion is that churning sensation that wells up from deep inside us, moving us to care for someone else.

 

Compassion is a feeling that leads to an action.

 

For some of us, compassion comes easily.

 

We feel for others and are moved to act.

 

A stranded family.     A crying baby.     A lost dog.

 

For others of us, compassion comes less readily.

 

 Sociopaths feel nothing when they see someone in need.

 

 But you don’t have to be a sociopath to find it hard to have

compassion for someone who hurts you, betrays you, or takes advantage of you.

 

How do you have compassion on people who don’t deserve it?

 

 

Getting to the Heart

 

At the cross, we see Jesus’ unmistakable compassion.

 

 For instance, the Lord saw Mary and John standing together nearby with her sister, and Mary the wife of Clopas and the apostle John

 

 

Some have seen Jesus’ words “woman behold thy son” not to turn Mary’s attention to John but rather to Himself

 

Woman look here at your son.

 

It will not be long before I am no longer with you

 

And so He tells John, behold your mother from this day forward

Jesus looked down at his weeping mother and was concerned for her.

 

 As Jesus viewed his mother's terrible grief, he didn't want her to be burdened with the added stress of figuring out how she would take care of herself and make ends meet.

 

 So, he put her mind at ease by removing that concern from her.

He was following the commandment of honoring his mother by making sure she was taken care of.

 

It is understood that her husband, Joseph had passed away and that she was poor and could not maintain the expenses of her home and would be left in great need in the absence of her firstborn.

 

She had other sons but perhaps they weren't in a position to take care of her.

 

Plus, they weren't followers of Jesus.

 

At least two of them, James and Jude would later become followers but at the time, Jesus wanted her to be in the household of one of his Apostles.

 

And John was the one Jesus chose.

 

 Two traditions exist as to her life.

 

One says she continued to live with him in Judea till the time of her death, which occurred about fifteen years later.

Another says she stayed with John even after he moved to Ephesus and that it was there that she died

 

Curiously there are two churches that were built to mark each of the grave sites

 

There is a story in church history that one of the Roman soldiers wrote a letter home in which he described taking Mary to the foot of the cross of Jesus.

 

 He had been so badly beaten that she did not recognize him and asked, “Which one is he?”

 

And so surrounded by this information

 

 

Jesus said to Mary, “Woman, behold, your son!”

 

and then to John, “Behold, your mother!” (John 19:26, 27).

 

Jesus saw his mother’s agony.

 

 His compassion moved him to act in love for her.

 

Two weeks ago I quoted the prophet Simeon who met Jesus as an infant and foretold that he would be the savior Israel waited for

 

But he made another prophecy concerning Mary

 

Luke 2:33-35 (NASB)
³³  And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.
³⁴  And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—
³⁵  and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed."

 

Jesus was a good son, providing care for his widowed mother in the midst of his impending death.

 

In these words, Jesus asked John to care for Mary as if his own mother.

 

We can imagine that Jesus spoke these words in compassion for John as well.

 

Now John would have a home, a mother, and a sense of responsibility and family.

 

These things would comfort John, giving meaning and purpose in the days of darkness and change that lay ahead.

 

Much of the time, it’s easy to have compassion on family members or close friends.

 

It’s easy to have compassion on a helpless baby or rescued, abused dog.

 

But how do you have compassion on the convict?

Or on a greedy financial advisor who bilks your trusting, elderly neighbor out of their life savings?

 

 It’s easy to have compassion on some people, but there are countless others who do not deserve our compassion.

 

Some people mistakenly think that God’s compassion means he’s just nice to everyone.

 

Not true!       God’s compassion is often coupled with confrontation.

 

God is just, and holy.

 

He confronts our unholiness and injustice.

 

 God stands up when something is wrong.

 

He judges when things aren’t right.

 

 Consider these words that describe both God’s justice and his compassion:

 

 “In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer. Isaiah 54:8

 

 

God will often couple compassion with confrontation.

 

But not Always!

 

God is always just and merciful, righteous and loving, judging and forgiving.

 

 

There is both confrontation and compassion at the cross.

 

At the cross, God confronts sin. He deals with it there!

 

He does not excuse it.     He doesn’t say, “Oh, I’ll be nice this time and just let it go.”

 

NO!

 

Sin is a violation against God.

 

A debt has occurred!

 

 Someone must pay!

 

 Someone must die!

 

But in compassion, Jesus says,    “I’ll pay.    I’ll die.”

 

 

Maybe confrontation is easy for you.

 

But what about compassion?

 

 How do you show compassion when it’s hard?

 

 How do you do that when someone doesn’t seem to deserve it?

 

 To understand compassion, we have to look at God’s compassion.

 

 

Mary must have been anxious over being left without Jesus

 

She believed in Him but His brothers did not

 

John on the other had we are told from church history was perhaps only a teenager and needed a mother figure

 

Again Paul explains Gods compassion for us

 

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (NASB)
³  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
⁴  who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
⁵  For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
⁶  But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;
⁷  and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

 Consider these two things about God’s compassion:

 

 

First, God’s compassion leads to action.

 

Divine compassion is much more than a fuzzy feeling.

As mentioned earlier, the Greek word for compassion relates to your guts.

 

 Your guts are moved for someone else; you feel for that person deep inside.

 

And that feeling deep in the gut leads to action.

 

God’s compassion moves him to act.

 

 His compassion moves him to rescue, to help, to deliver.

 

 

Consider when Israel was in bondage in Egypt.

 

Listen to how Nehemiah tells of Gods compassion

 

Nehemiah 9:9-12 (NASB)
⁹  "You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And heard their cry by the Red Sea.
¹⁰  "Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Against all his servants and all the people of his land; For You knew that they acted arrogantly toward them, And made a name for Yourself as it is this day.
¹¹  "You divided the sea before them, So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground; And their pursuers You hurled into the depths, Like a stone into raging waters.
¹²  "And with a pillar of cloud You led them by day, And with a pillar of fire by night To light for them the way In which they were to go.

 

 

 

Second, God’s compassion arises precisely when his people don’t deserve it.

 

Throughout Scripture, compassion refers to God’s gracious disposition toward his people precisely when they are in need or when they have rebelled.

 

God’s compassion arises when his people stray, betray, and wander.

 

 His compassion isn’t dependent on their good behavior or obedience.

 

 It is aroused when they mess up, run away, turn away, fall down, and fall out.

 

When you’ve denied, turned, lied, and rebelled . . . this is

when God’s compassion becomes most evident!

Here are three Scriptures that demonstrate this:

 

Their heart was not steadfast toward him. . . . Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity. Psalm 78:37–38

 

My people are bent on turning away from me. . . . My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.

Hosea 11:7–8

 

But while [the prodigal son] was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. Luke 15:20

 

 

Taking It Home

 

None of us deserves God’s compassion.

 

 But we are all recipients of that compassion precisely when we don’t deserve it.

 

Paul writes, “While we were still sinners, Christ died

for us” (Romans 5:8).

 

When we were more the criminal than the cute baby.

 

When we were more the greedy financier than the rescued dog.

 

When it was hard, God—out of his great compassion—chose mercy.

 

The more we see the cross, the clearer we see God’s heart.

 

The more we see God’s heart, the more we see his compassion.

 

His saving work on the cross was not only for his mother and friend but for his enemies.

 

 His compassion is for you and for me.

 

Only because of his radical compassion can we begin to mirror that same compassion in our own lives.

 

 

Listen to how Paul explains it in Ephesians 2:11-22 (NASB)
¹¹  Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands—
¹²  remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
¹³  But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
¹⁴  For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
¹⁵  by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
¹⁶  and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
¹⁷  AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR;
¹⁸  for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
¹⁹  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,
²⁰  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,
²¹  in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,
²²  in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

 

 

As you leave today, pray with and for one another.

 

Share personal prayer requests.

 

 Ask the Holy Spirit to draw each of you closer to Christ and to one another as you prepare to celebrate the Savior’s resurrection.

 

LET US PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER