Luke 7:13
“And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.”
We are reminded in Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus has feelings. We were created in His image, and being created in His image reminds us that Jesus has feelings because we do. The feelings of Jesus are many in the Scriptures, but let me point out a few of the feelings He had.
First, Jesus has compassion for the hurting. In the verse above, Jesus saw this mother weeping because her son had died. The verse says that when Jesus saw her weeping, “he had compassion on her.” It is a good reminder that Jesus has compassion on you when you hurt. Throughout the Gospels there were many different situations that caused people to hurt, and every time Jesus had compassion. You can be confident that whenever you are hurt, Jesus hurts along with you.
Second, Jesus is grieved because of hard hearts. There was a man whose hand was withered. This man came to Jesus on the Sabbath to be healed. The Pharisees wondered if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath for they felt that this was against the Law. These Pharisees were so hard hearted that it grieved Jesus. Christian, when your heart is hardened it grieves your Saviour. It grieves Jesus when you hear preaching and it doesn’t move you to change your sinful ways. It grieves Jesus when you read the Scriptures and it does nothing to cause you to change. Jesus desires that Christians have a tender heart that is sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit and the needs of others.
Third, Jesus has compassion for those who lack sustenance. Matthew 15:35 tells the story about a crowd coming to hear Jesus preach, and for three days they did not eat because they wanted to hear His preaching. He knew they were hungry and that they had no money to purchase food for their journey home, and it caused Him to have compassion on them. When the bills are coming in and there is no money to pay them, you can be assured the Jesus is concerned. You might think that no one cares, but Jesus does. You will find in this story that His compassion caused Him to take care of their needs. If you will ask Him, you will find that His compassion towards you will also cause Him to take care of your needs.
Fourth, Jesus has compassion for the lost. There is no way that we could show all the instances when Jesus had compassion for a lost world. I guess the best way to sum up the compassion Jesus has for a lost world is found in John 3:16 where it tells us He loves us so much that He died for us. Maybe the greatest feelings Jesus has is when He sees a world that is lost without Him knowing the only way they can have that need met is if Christians will bring the lost to Him.
Christian, the same feelings that Jesus has are the same feelings you should have. You will find that when you start living the selfless life that you too will have feelings in each of these areas. I encourage you to daily pray and ask God to give you the feelings of Jesus Christ. When you live with His feelings, you will see the world through different eyes which will cause you to live a life trying to meet the needs of others. It is this life that brings the greatest joy.