compassion fueled mission

Matthew 14 is one of the most moving depictions of Jesus found in Scripture. To start, Jesus has just learned that his first cousin, John the Baptist, had been murdered by King Herod. When Jesus receives the news, he withdraws by boat to go to a deserted place to be alone. Jesus is sad. But when the crowds discover his location, they walk around the lake to get to him on the other side. Jesus isn’t even afforded the opportunity to grieve without people pressing into him. If there was ever a time someone had the right to request being left alone, this was it. 

Yet Matthew records that when he saw the crowd, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus didn’t see the people as invasive. He didn’t see them as a nuisance. The crowds were everyday people full of everyday problems, full of struggles, trials, and needs. Jesus wasn’t numb to the people and the needs around him. When he looked at the crowds, when he looked into their eyes, he was moved with compassion. Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher from England, once said that the entire ministry of Christ can be summed up in this one phrase, “He was moved with compassion.” Jesus spent the rest of his day healing the sick until the sun began to set. 

As a church, we want to have the heart of Christ. We want compassion to fuel our mission. We believe that we are called to follow in the pattern of our Savior and live the way he lived. In John 20:21, Jesus told his disciples, “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Then John tells us that Jesus symbolically breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is given to believers to empower us to “live sent”. We are commissioned to go out into the world proclaiming, healing, and making disciples. Jesus tangibly loved as he declared the good news. His ministry was both word and deed. 

We desire to live on mission together, tangibly expressing the love and mercy of Christ to our neighbors and coworkers, proclaiming the good news that Jesus is King. We long to permeate our city with the gospel through the multiplication of gospel communities. We also long to send people out from our midst to other cities all over the globe to plant churches and make the real Jesus known in other places.