We've spent the week looking deep into God's grief, its cause, and spent some time exploring our own lament. Today, the story pivots as we see what God does with grief: Jesus.

Matthew recounts the path of Jesus as He went through towns and villages teaching, preaching, and healing the sick and weary. He doesn't stay distant from the hurt and suffering in the world, He steps right into it. But the part of the passage that impacts me most isn't the miracles and the healing ... its His compassion.

His response to their grief and pain wasn't condemnation or even pity. He had compassion because He saw they were "distressed and dejected". They were harassed, thrown down, tossed aside, and simply worn out by forces outside their control. The were scattered and aimless like "sheep without a shepherd" ... hurting with no one to care for them.

This describes us all outside of Eden, outside of alignment with God, wandering with broken hearts seeking solace in broken the broken systems of this world.

But in the hands of a loving God, grief becomes merciful and compassionate action.

Seeing the shear volume of the harvest, it's interesting what Jesus doesn't do ... He doesn't tackle the problem all alone. He bids His followers to pray to the "Lord of the harvest to send workers." Another way to see this is Jesus inviting you and me into His mission of compassion and healing. He asks us to join Him.

The Way of Jesus isn't just private holiness, learning to be better people, doing the right things and going to church. It's sharing burdens, seeing people the way Jesus sees them. It's refusing to reduce human beings, image-bearers of the Most High, to enemies, annoyances, or statistics. Walking the Way of Jesus is letting compassion become our default posture towards other humans.

It doesn't take long looking around our world to feel the weight of the pain that surrounds us. This passage gives us a window in how to handle it. Start with prayer. Prayer for workers to bring in the harvest of souls. Next, we can become the answer to our own prayer. Compassion isn't only something we feel, it's something we practice.

Who is in your life right now that you have been tempted, or actually have, label, dismiss, or avoid knowing Jesus would see them as distressed and in need of shepherd? What is one act of compassion you can do this week to express the Love of Christ?

Father, like the song says, "give me your eyes". Break my heart with compassion for what breaks Yours. Don't leave me stuck in my own despair, but give me purpose in Your harvest. Make me a worker moved by care and concern, not guilt. Teach me to love the way You do. In Jesus name, Amen.