Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
Matthew 10:29-31
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Psalm 139:7-10
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
As I write this, the news has stories about:
- Another school shooting 1
- Rampant human-trafficking, including
- A factory “employing” illegal aliens in slave-like conditions, less than an hour from my home 2
- A 14-year-old girl, illegally smuggled into the U.S., released to a 26-year-old male “sponsor” unrelated to her (who was also an illegal alien), raped and impregnated by him…and then the authorities declined to prosecute the case 3
- “Grooming gangs” in the U.K. repeatedly raping young girls for years, with the crimes covered up and downplayed –and even participated in — by the authorities 4
- Christians massacred in Nigeria, on Palm Sunday, no less 5
- Anti-Semitism on college campuses 6
- Several plane and/or helicopter crashes 7
- War in the Middle-East/Israel/Gaza, including 59 hostages (or their bodies) not yet returned 8
- War in Ukraine/Russia 9
That doesn’t include the tragedies closer to home. I’ve had at least six deaths since the first of the year within my circle of church family and other friends. Others are suffering from severe illnesses, while more have ongoing issues with jobs, relationships or other needs. It quickly becomes overwhelming.
It is all too easy to grow calluses on the heart, a protective mechanism against the onslaught of misery brought to our attention every time we hear yet another sad story. As individuals, we can only do so much to help those in need. And we can only take so much before we are tempted to quit trying, even to quit caring.
Obviously, that is not our ideal reaction. As Christians, we are the hands and feet of Jesus, His ambassadors to share His love with the world. I could spend this article beating up on myself for how far short I come of the standards that I profess. Deserved as that might be, it’s not what I’m going to do this time.
I would rather spend the article praising Jesus for not being like me.
Jesus’ Compassion
Jesus never grows those calluses. He deeply feels every single individual story. Take another look at the image for this article. Out of the huge crowd of people, I randomly selected one to draw to your attention. Do you notice her more than the other people around her? Jesus doesn’t. He notices every person in that crowd as if an arrow was pointing to them alone.
He identifies with every mistreatment (Matthew 25:41-46) or concern felt by every person in the picture, and by every person in the entire world. A common theme in His interactions with people is the word “compassion”. The word doesn’t just mean “feel sorry for”. It means “feel sorrow with” 10.
Lazarus
The best-known example of Jesus’ empathy for others’ pain is story of Lazarus. Even knowing that He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, giving the world the last and greatest sign (prior to His crucifixion and resurrection) of His identity as God, Jesus still shared the grief that Lazarus’ sisters were experiencing.
Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.
John 11:32-35
Widow of Nain
In Luke 7:11-15, we see Jesus interrupting a funeral procession because of his compassion for the widowed mother.
There is no indication that anyone asked Jesus to help. It probably would not even have occurred to them. After all, the man was already dead. This was early-ish in Jesus’ ministry. He had healed people, and had called his twelve main disciples to follow Him. Many others were tagging along to see what would happen next. But they hadn’t yet learned to expect miracles on this scale.
Jesus and his entourage entering the city crossed paths with the funeral on its way out to the cemetery. The dead man was the only son of his widowed mother. With no men left in the family to care for her, her future looked bleak.
When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
Luke 7:13-15
Feeding Thousands
The feeding of the five thousand in Matthew 14:13-21 started because when Jesus saw the large crowd following Him, “felt compassion for them and healed their sick“. Later, in Matthew 15:32-38, we see Jesus feeding another four thousand because “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.“
Healing a Leper
Mark 1:40-42 describes a leper coming to Jesus and saying “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Jesus’ response? “Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and *said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” To the leper, simply being touched by another human hand was a luxury long denied to him. This Rabbi, a holy man, was willing to not only heal but also simply to touch. That was life-changing on many levels. (For your viewing pleasure, here is the scene as depicted by The Chosen.)
Old Testament to God’s Compassion
It’s not just in the New Testament, either. The Old Testament is full of reminders about God’s compassion for His people. “Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.” (Psalm 103:13)
The righteous cry, and the LORD hears
Psalm 34:17-18, 145:18
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
…
The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
Jonah and Ninevah
Jonah went — very reluctantly! — to the city of Ninevah, an arch-enemy of Israel, to warn them of God’s coming wrath. When the people repented, God stayed His hand and did not destroy them after all.
Jonah was angry about that. He told God (paraphrased): “I knew it! You always do this. You’re gracious and compassionate, slow to get angry and quick to forgive.” God’s answer: “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” (Jonah 3:5 through 4:11)
Hagar and Ismael
On two separate occasions, God went after the slave girl Hagar to reassure her. The first time, in Genesis 16:7-13, He sent her back to Abraham with the promise that the baby she carried would survive to have many descendants. The second time, in Genesis 21:14-21, He saved the lives of Hagar and the child Ishmael, providing water when their supply had run out. He then continued to provide as Ishmael grew up and married, prepared to found the nation that God promised to them.
Lot and Sodom
In Genesis 19:15-25, the angels sent by God to destroy the wicked towns of Sodom and Gomorrah delayed that judgment until they could get Lot and his family to safety. When they stalled, the angels physically took Lot, his wife and his daughters by the hand “for the compassion of the LORD was upon him” and brought them out. When Lot protested that he could not escape to the mountains as directed, the angels agreed to let him escape to a nearby small town instead. They also agreed to spare that small town from the destruction that was about to rain down all around it, all because of God’s compassion for Lot and his family.
God See Each of Us, Individually
When we are swamped with the news of horrors happening around the world, it comes to us in bulk. We see large groups of people affected, often in places physically distant from us.
God sees individuals. Each one of them is someone He knows and loves. He is standing right beside each of them. That gives hope, and a reason to praise and trust Him.
Thank God, He is not like me!
Note: A couple of similar articles on this site are “The God Who Sees” and “Intimacy of God“.
Footnotes and Scripture References
- https://redstate.com/beccalower/2025/04/17/update-on-fsu-shooting-n2187992
- https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/fbi-bartow-county-search-wellmade-industries
- https://x.com/i/status/1913406936822776238
- https://www.thefp.com/p/maggie-oliver-uk-grooming-gangs-whistleblower
- https://globalchristianrelief.org/christian-persecution/stories/palm-sunday-attack-nigeria/
- https://edworkforce.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=412025
- https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/16/travel/how-deadly-has-air-travel-been-in-2025-here-is-what-to-know/index.html
- https://jweekly.com/2025/03/07/these-are-the-59-israeli-hostages-still-held-in-gaza/
- https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-april-18-2025
- Here’s the etymology from the Latin roots.
