LESSON 9*May 24 - 30 The Tenderness of His
Love
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week's Study:
"But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). Matthew 9:35 tells how Jesus went through many areas of Palestine "preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness" (NIV). In our cynical age, when people suspect that every effort to help them is tinged with some hidden agenda, the motive behind Jesus' ministry comes as a breath of fresh air: genuine love, described as "compassion" (vs. 36). He was moved for the people; His heart went out to them. We see this same general concern in Mark 8:1-3, where Jesus is concerned about the people fainting on their way home. "They have . . . been with Me three days," He reminds His disciples, "and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance" (vss. 2, 3 NIV).
It is a remarkably tender concern, and says a lot about Jesus. He knew His audience. He empathized with their needs. He felt their pain. Nor does He ask us to be exactly what He was or do exactly what He did. For although He had Himself gone through 40 days of fasting, yet He was concerned about the health and safety of folks who had experienced just three days eating next to nothing (though perhaps not totally without food).
This is the kind of loving compassion we want to trace in this week's lessons, in the lives of individuals and that of the nation of Israel as a whole.
*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, May 31.
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