The Compassion of God
Christ showed the most extraordinary compassion, but did His compassion come from His deity or from His humanity?
Christ’s compassion came from His deity. Even if Jesus had never become a man in full humanity, He would show exactly the same level of compassion as He did as a man on earth.
In 2 Corinthians 1:3 Paul describes God (the Father) as “the Father of all compassion and the God of all comfort.” The word translated “compassion” here literally means ‘to feel distress at the ills of others.’ That’s what the heavenly Father feels for us.
Jesus said “anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). The compassion Jesus showed on earth perfectly reflected the heavenly Father’s compassion. Jesus’ words of compassion were the Father’s words (John 12:49); Jesus’ acts of compassion were the heavenly Father’s acts (John 9:4)
One reason the worship of Jesus’ earthly mother, Mary, rose up was because the heavenly Father was thought to be forever unapproachable, angry, demanding and completely lacking compassion. Mary by contrast was loving, compassionate and completely approachable. But this view of the heavenly Father was later seen to be completely untrue and became known as the Marcion heresy.
Our heavenly Father has always been a compassionate, caring God. He feels for us. He understands our weaknesses and offers grace to lift us from where we’ve been to where He wants us to be.
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