The Motive and Mission of Jesus
“When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.” (Mark 6:34)
Whenever I consider the work of the church, four words stand tall in my thinking – the mission, the message, the motive, and the method. If one of these changes, all of these change. Today’s passage affords us a snapshot of Jesus Christ whereby we may see all of these in action.
First, Jesus’ motive can be stated simply: “He had compassion on them.” A more wooden translation would be that His heart churned within Him. What moved Jesus Christ to leave heaven for us? What compelled Christ to leave the comfort of His heavenly throne to slog through the sin and misery of this fallen world? What could it be but His free, boundless compassion for us? Jesus saw our mess and did not hesitate to respond. Hasn’t this always been the case? In the Garden, as soon as Adam plunged himself and all his descendants into a dastardly, devilish dominion, Christ rushed to apply the promise of a coming redemption. The entirety of the Old Testament is nothing less than the longing of the Son to show compassion on us. Christ’s free and fast compassion washes over us with waves of conviction, for how slow are we to respond? Better yet, how reluctant are we to feel compassion? We want to preface our compassion questions of with worth and returns; Jesus’ prefaces His compassion with need. His mercy meets us in our misery; His compassion in our lack of capacity.
However, may I tease out this misery for a moment? The misery is not lack of food, nor lack of social services. These issues are not unimportant, for Jesus addresses them a few verses later. However, Jesus compassion flows most powerfully to the place of the greatest hurt; His mercy moves to alleviate the most misery. What is that misery? “They were like sheep without a shepherd.” He is more concerned about their character than their condition. What creates that gut-wrenching sense of sorrow for Christ? The lost spiritual condition of the people.
Therefore, second, Jesus’ motive moves to mission, to teaching. If the spiritual condition is the problem, then there is no other solution than the Word of God. All of it, every jot and tittle, every word and clause, every piece and part (even the ones we do not like). The Word of God gives us new life and sustains us day-by-day. The Word of God guides us out of darkness into light until we reach that Celestial City. There can be no replacement for a strong preaching and teaching ministry within the local church, nor can there be a substitute for a faithful and consistent reading of the Word within our families. If our compassion flows down to the deepest point of man’s misery, then we will use every endeavor to raise them up with the Word of God in Christ.
If we expect to have vibrant churches in Hinds County, it begins here. It begins with a deep sense of man’s misery and an abundant fellowship in Christ’s compassion, but it leads to a simple mission - proclaiming the Word of God as the life and light of men. The Word of God may not life man out of poverty, but it will lift poverty out of man. The preaching of the Word may not cure every worldly condition, but it will provide every spiritual contentment. The Word of God is the greatest gift of compassion, for in it we find the gift of Christ. And we find Him nowhere else.
