Jesus truly cares for you
“He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mark 6:34b)
“I feel lost.”
“I feel so alone.”
“I’m so confused.”
You have probably said something like one of those phrases to yourself, if not actually saying it out loud to someone else. How did that other person respond when you said that phrase?
The bigger question is how did you respond when someone else said one of those phrases or something similar to you? Did you mutter a rather uncaring “I’m sorry”? Did you try to show some compassion and say something like “I have an idea of how you feel.”?
The best and most comforting answer we can give is to point people to someone who truly does understand, cares and can really do something to help them. That “someone” is Jesus.
I truly appreciate the phrase the Bible uses here to help us understand how Jesus truly does understand, cares and can really do something to help us – “he had compassion on them” – literally “had feelings in his bowels for them.” It is a phrase or description which is used only of Jesus describing his Savior-like care for us.
This is far more than a half-hearted attempt at trying to show he cares or a cold-hearted response to excuse himself from having to deal with the issue. When the Bible uses the phrase “he had compassion,” it is telling us that Jesus, as a true man, feels the same things we feels, deals with the same emotions and struggles we have and loves us so much that he died to release us from the pain, struggles and sorrows of our sins.
As we have been reminded before, Jesus never told us that we wouldn’t have troubles or sorrows in this world. Time and time again he reminds us that in those dark and difficult times in life that we can only find true and real peace in him. John 16:33 is one of the clearest expressions of this “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Jesus is the only one who can tell us something like this. Jesus is the only one who feels what we feel and can do something to help us through our loneliness, pain or confusion. He gives us people in this world who are ably equipped to help us deal with the physical challenges. He invites us to lean on him for relief and peace for the spiritual pains we face.
None of us likes to admit that we have such challenges of loneliness, confusion or sorrow on the path of life. In a world affected by sin they are inevitable. At such times, remember that you have someone in your corner who truly knows and cares. Yes, Jesus truly cares and has compassion on you!