Compassion of Mothers

When God described Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai, He said, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…” (Exodus 34:6) When someone describes themselves with character traits like compassion, patience, being genuine and true, they’re making a big claim. It sounds a lot like the definition of Love that Paul offers in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 that Love is patient, kind, doesn’t envy or boast. It’s not proud or disrespectful, selfish or short-tempered. Love doesn’t even focus on the wrongs you do but protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres.

God’s compassion is seen often. And compassion is different from empathy, which is the ability to understand and feel another person’s feelings. God can do that, but He goes further than that; God’s compassion is modeled by going through whatever the hardship is with the sufferer (Immanuel, God with us - Matthew 1:23). His character seeks to promote wholeness and redemption.

How do we model that in our own lives? Mothers are probably recognized for doing this best. There have been many psychological studies done to determine the impact compassion has on dealing with things like stress, fear, worry, anger, or resentment. No surprise, it’s a night and day difference when people receive compassion.

So, when Jesus demonstrated compassion to people during His time on earth, He gave them more than their health back or even their lives back. He opened opportunities for those people to pay that compassion forward and share that “healing power” with others.

This Mother’s Day, we recognize the significant impact our mothers have played in our lives. While there may be multiple contributions they have made to our development, compassion is one that Jesus definitely favors.

In Luke 7:11-17 we read of Jesus passing through the town of Nain and noticing a funeral procession for a young man, a mother’s only child. 'When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, '"Don’t cry.'" (7:13). But Jesus did more than offer kind words of comfort, His compassion brought restoration and joy to the woman: He raised her son from the dead!

Although it would be nice if we saw that today, we have to learn from Him that He does something to bring her healing and joy. Resurrection will be God’s final demonstration at the end (1 Corinthians 15:20-28). What we can bring may actually take more work, because it is less than resurrection, but compassionate comfort is more valuable than we realize.

Be sure to recognize those in your life who have been by your side to give you the compassion that God wants us to model. Thank God for mothers who do this well!