In the Gospels we see that Jesus experienced exhaustion, joy, anger, frustration, disgust, grief, loneliness, rejection, and dread. But the one emotion attributed to Jesus more than any other is compassion. What’s interesting about that is that most of our emotions tend to be self-centered. How we feel is usually determined by what we’re experiencing or going through at any given moment. The primary emotion of Jesus was determined by what others were experiencing or going through. This primary emotion of Jesus in his one on one encounters revealed His priorities and ultimate purpose on this earth. As we conclude the One at a Time series, we will hear from pastor Mark Moore, author of the book Quest 52, which focuses in on the one on one encounters Jesus had with people. So many of the one at a time stories in the Gospels start with Jesus feeling compassion. When Jesus felt compassion, it was followed by action, and it always created a story- his compassion came with a conjunction. Jesus’ life makes it clear that compassion isn’t just an emotion. It’s more than just feeling sorry for someone. The word “and” is the connector that a lot of us are missing in our one at time stories. We feel compassion…but we are missing the “and.” We need an”and” to join our emotions to action. It’s not enough to just feel something, we need to cross over and do something. The test of compassion is in the conjunction. Is there an and?
