Editorial October 17, 1994 Issue

Compassion and healing

William E. Moody

Jesus was a man of both tremendous spiritual strength and the utmost tender compassion. He was bold in facing and overcoming the brutality of his persecutors, yet unfailingly he offered a healing love and forgiveness to everyone—to friend and enemy, to the sick and the sinning. As the New Testament recounts, "And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd" (Mark 6:34).

In another instance, when an outcast, sick with leprosy, approached Christ Jesus and asked if the Master would heal him, the Bible again speaks of Jesus' merciful response: "And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean" (Mark 1:41). The man was healed.

There are a number of instances recorded in the New Testament Gospels that clearly illustrate how significant a compassionate heart is to the ministry of Christian healing. Compassion is an element of love that not only responds to the suffering or sorrow another is experiencing but also carries with it a deep longing to end that suffering, to take away whatever might be causing the pain.

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