Moved With Compassion

Of the four gospels, Mark uses the word compassion the most often and showed that one of the main motivating forces behind what the Savior did was His compassion He had for those around Him. It was compassion that motivated Him to heal others: “And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean” (Mark 1:40-41). This leper was healed because Jesus was “moved with compassion” to help him. It was also compassion that inspired Him to cast out devils. When a man brought unto Jesus his son with a “dumb spirit” he explained to the Savior that his son would fall into the fire and into the water and he was worried the evil spirit would “destroy him.” He then said, “If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.” And that is what Jesus did: “He rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him” (Mark 9:17-26). The man asked for compassion from Jesus, and that is exactly what he received. On another occasion He sent the unclean spirits in a man into a herd of swine and miraculously healed the man. He said to the man, “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” Jesus had indeed showed great compassion in healing this man who “always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones” (Mark 5:5, 18-19). It was compassion that moved Jesus to heal and cast out the devils in those He met.

                In addition to healing the people, compassion also led Him to teach and be with and feed the multitudes of people around Him. When He tried to get a moment to Himself with the apostles, they “departed into a desert place by ship privately.” But the people followed and “came together unto him,” seeking Him. Mark recorded, “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: and he began to teach them many things” (Mark 6:32-34). He knew they needed to be taught and His compassion led Him to teach them even when He was looking for a moment to Himself. Similarly, on another occasion, He “went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would that no man should come unto him. But he could not deny them; for he had compassion upon all men” (JST Mark 7:22-23). When He sought to be alone, surely out of incredible fatigue, He could not turn the people away from Him because of the compassion He had towards them. Later with such a large group following Him, He wanted to provide them food because they were hungry. “In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat” (Mark 8:1-2). And so, He miraculously fed the people with a few fishes and a few loaves of bread, and He did it because of His compassion that He had for them. I believe that Mark wanted us to see that it was compassion that motivated the Savior to do the things that He did. If we want to follow the example of Jesus, we too should seek to purify our motives and do things to help others simply because we have compassion upon them. He would later tell the Nephites, “Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you,” and that should be how we strive to feel towards all those around us who might need help (3 Nephi 17:6).