THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever felt compassion or pity for someone? Where (in your body) did you feel it?
READ TOGETHER.
Matthew 20:29-34. 29And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.
There’s a really interesting word in this story about Jesus. It’s in verse 34 – Pity.
While walking from Jericho toward Jerusalem, and along the way there are two blind men that cry out to Jesus for healing – Lord, have mercy on us…let our eyes be opened.
Then the verse says this – Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.
The English word is pity, but the Greek word (the New Testament was first written in Greek) is one of my favorites – splagchnizomai. Say it with me:
Spla – like spa with a “l” sound in there.
gch – this sounds like you’re starting to spit.
ni – sounds like “knee.”
zo – long “O” sound.
mai – sounds like “my.”
It’s a word that sounds like you’re trying to spit up, which is appropriate because it means “from your guts.”
Back in Jesus’ day when you had compassion on a person you didn’t feel it in your heart. They wouldn’t say, “I care about you with my whole heart.” They would say, “I care about you with all my guts, my whole stomach, my intestines.”
Have you ever felt so much love and concern for someone that you felt it in your tummy? Have you ever been so worried about someone that your stomach literally ached? Jesus feels that way about us. He doesn’t just love us in his head, he loves us in his guts. He feels love for us. When we are sad he is sad. When we are hurting his stomach aches. When we feel like we aren’t loved by anyone, Jesus’ insides get all tied up in a knot. Why? Because he never wants us to feel that way inside. He wants us to know in our heads and in our guts that we are loved! And then he wants us to love others with all our guts too.
Because of Jesus we have received all the compassion of God.
With Jesus we can have compassion on others and love with all our guts.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Tell yourselves that you love each other with all your guts.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, have compassion on me because I’m still so small and weak. I need your grace. Amen.
TLICfamily 