Compassion

What Child is This?  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  35:48
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Intro
For this Christmas Season, each Sunday we have been asking the question, “What Child is This?” Who is the baby, named Jesus that we remember each year at Christmas?
The first week, we looked from the perspective of the Shepherds. Why did God send an angel, and then angels, to announce to the shepherds that Jesus was born?

The Shepherd

Well, we saw that they were likely the ones who were awake. But, what is more, God had revealed himself as the Shepherd for his people, and he had foretold that when the Messiah came, he would be the Shepherd for his people. The shepherd who:
The Shepherd Looks After
The Shepherd Rescues
The Shepherd Gathers
The Shepherd Pastures
The Shepherd Looks After
The Shepherd Provides Rest
The Shepherd Gathers
The Shepherd Seeks and Saves
Well, we saw that they were likely the ones who were awake. But, what is more, God had revealed himself as the Shepherd for his people
The Shepherd Pastures
The Shepherd Provides Rest
The Shepherd Seeks and Saves
Last week, we looked from the perspective of the Wise Men, and saw that Jesus was the very thing wise men seek:

Wisdom

Jesus, this baby that was born was God’s wisdom. God in His infinite wisdom made a plan before even beginning Creation—a plan to make men who could truly love, know and worship him freely. A plan to provide not only freedom, but also righteousness, holiness and redemption because he knew that free men would do what is wrong, and incur judgment. Christ is the very wisdom of God for those who will receive him!
Today, we are going to ask that same question, “What Child is This,” from the perspective of his mother Mary.
First, here is a dramatic retelling.
Video
Let’s begin by reading in Luke, how she learned that she was to bear Jesus, the Son of God.
Luke 1:26–38 NIV
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Luke 1:26-38
As I considered the previous weeks—how God in his great plan used Shepherds because Jesus is the Great Shepherd, and then Wise men because Jesus is the very wisdom of God—I wondered, why did God chose Mary? What do we learn about this child through Mary?
Video
What do we think of when we think of Mothers? I think of ‘Compassion’.

Compassion

What is compassion?
Websters defines compassion as, “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate”. - Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003)
in the Bible, the words which are translated as Compassion are also translated as love, mercy and pity. Compassion is that emotional response of the heart to want to alleviate suffering; whether the suffering is self-inflicted, or suffered from outside circumstances.
Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003). Compassion is related to love, mercy and pity. Compassion is that emotional response of the heart to want to alleviate suffering. Whether self-inflicted, or suffered from outside circumstances.
As I meditated on Shepherds as a reminder that Jesus is the Great Shepherd, and Wise Men as a reminder that Jesus is God’s Wisdom, I began to think of Mary as a reminder of Compassion.
Mary thirsted to know, what child is this? Something she continued to wonder and search for ...
What I found interesting is what Mary had to say when she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth.
Please open your bibles to .
Luke 1:46–55 NIV
And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
While I was thinking of Mary being a symbol of Compassion, Mary’s song in contains references to God’s compassion. Mary saw God as the God of Compassion. Again, Compassion is the synonym of mercy. Compassion is to be caring for someone else in their situation. Do you see compassion here?
Let’s work through this passage and see God’s Compassion as Mary did.
“My soul glorifies the Lord” references
Psalm 34:2–3 NIV
I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.
This is when the Lord delivered David from the hands of the Philistine king. God’s compassion was seen in God’s provision for David. Provision for safety.
“my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” remembers the Lord’s compassion in providing a savior and is a reference to
Isaiah 61:10 NIV
I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
The context here is Israel being in captivity. Why were they conquered and the cities destroyed? Why were they carried off into captivity? Was their suffering from others, or though at the hand of others, self-inflicted?
references - he regards, mindful of the lowly\
Self-inflicted. Yet, God in compassion was promising to send a savior to redeem and restore them! God’s compassion for suffering caused by sin.
“he has been mindful” is compassion. This phrase references -
references - he regards, mindful of the lowly\
Psalm 138:6 NIV
Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly; though lofty, he sees them from afar.
God is mindful of people in humble circumstances. He thinks of them. He is near to those who will look to him.
Isaiah 57:15 NIV
For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
he regards, mindful of the lowly\
God’s compassion is seen in His being near to those in humble circumstances. Too many people today think that if God is with you, you will have health and wealth. Actually, those with health and wealth typically don’t see God’s compassion. Those who are needy, see God’s compassion. God’s compassion is seen is His being near to those who are lowly in spirit and looking to Him.
Mary goes on in verse 48 to say, “From now on all generations will call me blessed.”
From now on all generations will call me blessed. Mary saw the long-term results of God’s compassion on her. I cannot imagine what the short-term effects were. Young girl, pregnant before marriage? We do know that Joseph sought to divorce her. What were her parents reactions? What did her friends do and say? But, nevertheless, Mary had the long-term view of God’s compassion. She knew that long-term, because God was sending the savior, that she would be known as blessed.
Mary saw the long-term results of God’s compassion on her. I cannot imagine what the short-term effects were. Young girl, pregnant before marriage? We do know that Joseph sought to divorce her. What were her parents reactions? What did her friends do and say? But, nevertheless, Mary had the long-term view of God’s compassion. She knew that long-term, because God was sending the savior, that she would be known as blessed. God’s compassion is often seen in the long-term.
, The Mighty One has done great things for me, references
Psalm 71:19–21 NIV
Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens, you who have done great things. Who is like you, God? Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once more.
God does great things, even though I have seen many bitter and troubled times, you restore. God’s compassion does not stop suffering from happening. Suffering is ultimately from sin, either mine or someone else’s. God in His wisdom is patient with us, wanting us to be saved. But when there is sin and suffering, that is when I can see His compassion. God’s compassion is seen in the great things He does in restoring us, and comforting us when we suffer.
His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation in references
Psalm 103:17 NIV
But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—
God’s compassion is seen in the long haul. It does not end. My compassion has a limit. I may be compassionate, but if someone seems to spurn my compassion, I lose interest in being compassionate toward them.
God’s mercy extends to all who fear Him. No matter how many times we fail, His compassions, His mercy is new every morning!
references , a Psalm that recalls the mighty deeds of God, the awesome display of His power as seen in His provision of salvation out of love.
, God lifts up the humble.
Psalm 145:14 NIV
The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
references satisfies thirsty hungry
Psalm 107:9 NIV
for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
references merciful
Mary saw God’s mercy and compassion in choosing her! Who was she? She was just a young girl from Nazareth. Nazareth, a little town in the shadow of Herod’s palace. A place with no good reputation. Yet, God chose to use her. God in compassion considered her humble place in life, and gave her a great opportunity to serve Him.
God was going to use her to bring the savior into the world!! God the Son was going to be born as a man, through her!
A savior… think of it! A savior, not because the world was so deserving. A savior, not because Israel was deserving. A savior sent simply because God had compassion on the people of the world.

Jesus is Compassion

I believe that she found this child was Compassion. The Compassion of God, made manifest in this little child.
Compassion seen in God sending a savior
Compassion that God would be with her
Compassion that God allowed her cousin to know it was his doing
Compassion that God told Joseph in a dream
Compassion that God provided in Bethlehem
Compassion that God sent Shepherds
Compassion that God sent Simeon and in the temple
Compassion when they found Jesus
Compassion when Jesus made the water turn to wine
Compassion when Jesus taught and performed more miracles
Compassion as Jesus was on the cross
Daniel 9:9 NIV
The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him;
Luke 1:72 NIV
to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant,
references - he regards, mindful of the lowly
references mercy extends
references satisfies thirsty hungry
references merciful
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