I think one of the best ways to illustrate compassion is to relay a true story found in the Bible. The story is found in the Book of Mark, chapter 2: “When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.'” (Mark 2:1-5)
Jesus was teaching in a house, and the crowd of people who had gathered to hear him was quite large. There was no way for any more people to get into the house where he was teaching. In fact, the doorway was even crammed with people standing outside and peering in trying to hear and get to Jesus.
There was in the same town a man who was paralyzed and wanted to get to Jesus to be healed, but of course had no way to even get to the house let alone get inside it. So, four men picked up the mattress on which he lay and carried the mattress and man to the house. However, when they got to the house and saw that there were way too many people to even try getting the man inside, they went up on the roof of the house and tore a hole in the roof and tying ropes to the 4 corners of the mattress, lowered the man into the room directly in front of Jesus.
Now, to fully understand the story, we must understand the customs and the times in which this story took place.
During this time period, and sadly even today, people really looked down on those who were disabled, paralyzed, or in other ways different from the norm. People often were taught that if someone was born with these problems or developed them in life it was a punishment for something they or their parents had done in the past.
In fact, Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, is even quoted as saying; “let there be a law that no deformed child shall live.”
Many times, people who were deformed, paralyzed, etc., were simply thrown outside the city and left to die or become beggars. And most people would certainly NOT go out of their way to help someone like this man.
So, the fact that these four guys were willing to carry this paralyzed man all the way to this house was in itself an act of compassion. But, then when they got there and found that the house was too jam packed with people for them to get inside, they didn’t quit.
Many people would have said; “Oh, well. Sorry man. We tried.” But no, they went so far as to carry this guy – mattress and all – up onto the roof, and tearing a hole in the roof, they made sure he got the help he needed. THAT IS COMPASSION!
Being a paralyzed man, this guy had no means to pay or reward these four men for their help. In fact, these men probably had to pay for the roof they tore up. So it certainly wasn’t to their personal “advantage” to do what they did. But, although it isn’t mentioned in the story, I can just see the joy on their faces when this paralyzed man was suddenly laying in front of the only person in the world who could really help him, and then the look of DELIGHT when he got up and walked!!
They certainly weren’t doing it to get something in return. The story doesn’t go into detail about how they found this man. But more than likely, they just came upon him and saw he needed help getting to Jesus – and they decided to help no matter what it cost them.
We need to LOVE others the same way. Our love for others shouldn’t depend on what they do for us, or what we “get” out of it. When was the last time we went out of our way to help people who could never repay us, or even to do things for people without expecting anything in return? Jesus Christ loved us enough to DIE for us!
In John 13:34, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”