10 When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, 11 but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. ~ Luke 9:10-11
Throughout the three years of the ministry of the Lord Jesus, there were many miracles. Most days He did miracles. And many days He did many miracles. And here in Luke 9:10-17 is His most massive miracle. This was the most visible miracle because He kept multiplying the five loaves and two fish and He handed it from hand to hand for all to see.
The hub of the Lord Jesus' ministry was Galilee which is a small region, fifty miles top to bottom, twenty-five miles side to side and in the middle is a lake that takes up a lot of the space and there's 204 villages crowded around that lake. It was during this time that the Lord Jesus popularity surged because of His miracles.
So, this was the Galileans last opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel message. After this, according to Matthew 15:21, the Lord Jesus went to Tyre and Sidon. Once He was finished ministering there, He came back across the north of Galilee and went east of the Sea of Galilee into another area outside Galilee, an area called Decapolis, a Gentile area.
Having demonstrated His power over and over, day after day, the Lord Jesus is gradually leaving the region of Galilee. The people there were so deeply and profoundly steeped in their religion, that not long after this, about a year, they were demanding the death of the Lord Jesus.
Now, there are only two miracles recorded in all four gospels, the feeding of the 5000 and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. After this miracle, the feeding of the 5000, the Lord Jesus teaches the crowds occasionally but most of His focus is on teaching the twelve.
In v.10 we read, "When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida."
The disciples had been out on a short-term mission trip preaching the good news. The Lord Jesus had given them the power to do miracles, cast out demons, heal, and raise the dead. After they had come back, they gave an account to Him of all they had done. Then they withdrew with Him to Bethsaida which was a fishing village on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee. Peter, Andrew, Philip and Nathanael, according to John 1:43 were from Bethsaida.
All of the miracles of the Lord Jesus were demonstrations of compassion on human suffering. They reveal the broken heart of God over the pain of mankind. God is compassionate. The reason He fed the 5,000, was due to the fact that they were hungry. One can't ever divorce the power of Christ from the compassion of Christ because the two are in partnership all the way through His ministry.
Note v.11 which reads, "but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing." In Matthew 14:14 we read, "And when He went ashore He saw a great multitude, He felt compassion for them and healed their sick."
The Lord Jesus felt compassion because of their suffering so He healed them. The word ‘compassion’ comes from two words, "suffer" and "with." The verb used here "felt compassion" reveals the pain and hurt the Lord Jesus felt deeply in His bowels. God cares about man's suffering. Compassion and empathy are closely related. Empathy empowers compassion to act in practical ways to receive the problem.
Spurgeon tells us, "The original word used here to describe His compassion is not found in classic Greek. The fact is, it was a word coined by the apostles themselves. They did not find one in the whole Greek language that suited their purpose, and therefore they had to make one. It is expressive of the deepest emotion; a striving of the bowels-a yearning of the innermost nature with pity."
Compassion is something seldom experienced in this world filled with indifference and cruelty. Most people don’t seem to possess the level of selflessness compassion requires. Our society makes it clear that our acceptance has everything to do with our success and little to do with the grace and compassion. How we are loved and respected is based on our accomplishments and abilities rather than the love and compassion of those around us. But our God is not of this world.
In a world founded on the notion of works and rewards, cause and effect, God wants to build your foundation on his unconditional compassion. God longs to establish your relationship on the building blocks of his love and grace. It was God’s compassion for us that drove him to send the Lord Jesus to His death. It was God’s compassion for us that led Him to search us out when sin had wedged a great chasm between us. And it’s God’s compassion that drives Him even now to pour out His unfathomable love and affection over us.
Finally, in His writings from prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.” It seems to me this is what God has done for us. Let's do it for others, today! This is compassion!
