Compassion for Untouchables
By Kathy Towers
For 400 years, there was silence between the Old and New Testaments — a heavy pause in Hebrew history that left God's people longing for His voice. Generation after generation waited for the promised Messiah, expecting a ruler who would reign with physical power and restore Israel’s glory.
Yet, when Jesus finally came, He fulfilled the promises of God in a way they did not anticipate. Instead of dominating with worldly might, He conquered through love. Instead of wielding a weapon, He offered His hand and touch to those others would not: the sick, the sinful, the unclean. In His compassion towards these individuals, He revealed the true heart of God — one not distant from the unclean, but instead, willing to embrace them.
Jesus speaks to a generation burdened by legalistic demands of the Pharisaic law, and offers a spiritual reprieve from the burdens of sin and the law. In His role as the ultimate high priest, the miracles He performs not only prove that He is the son of God but also show His empathy for the human condition. He has great compassion for the heavy laden, as evidenced by those chosen for miraculous intervention by the Savior. His sympathy for these is not necessarily an emotional response but an expression of divine love and mercy. He was the model of empathy, kindness, and compassion for His followers. This answers the question of how the Creator feels about His creation. The Creator loves the created - Genesis 1:13.
Mark 1:40-45 gives the example of a leper wanting the Lord to cleanse him. Jesus touched him, and he was restored fully and immediately cleansed. Here Jesus touches the untouchable and cleanses the unclean.
The book of Matthew was directed toward a primarily Jewish audience. Matthew makes the argument that the God of the Old Testament, who sent the plagues, is the same God of the New Testament in Jesus Christ, who performed 37 recorded miracles in the gospels. Jesus says, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe” thus indicating that tangible evidence was necessary for the observers to believe. We rely on written evidence to support our belief in miraculous power. The detractors would cast doubt, but the question to be asked is, why did the healed and their close associates not dispute the miraculous events?
Matthew 20:29-34 presents two blind men crying for healing. These types were considered defective and sinful. They were to be avoided under the best of circumstances. Jesus touches them and restores their sight. He heals them in an up close and personal way as He did with the leper. This shows His great love and compassion and the fact that He was not at all repelled by such as these. This miraculous healing exemplifies that one needs his sight to see the Truth and the Way. All men have to have their sight restored to see Him.
Christ is presented as entirely human through His compassion and hunger, but also as fully God by His ability to heal His creation. The apostle John mentions in John 20:30-31 that the miracles he records prove that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God. The apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:5 that “your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” For us as believers, these works validate and affirm our faith. Not all of whom saw the miracles in person, and not all who study in the present are convinced that a divine intervention was being performed.
The feeding of 4,000 people in Matthew once again shows Jesus’ compassion. He did not want the multitude to faint because they were starving. Jesus not only provides them with physical food but also with spiritual nourishment for their souls through his words.
The theme of compassion sets an example for the followers of Christ. It sets an example of divine love and mercy. It shows a servant's heart toward humanity. It is an example for followers to live likewise - to alleviate suffering for men who were made in the image of God. Compassion and sympathy enter the soul and change the man’s inner being.
The miracles confirm that He is the Son of God and that He fulfilled the prophecy in the Old Testament. They show God’s love for His creation. His greatest act of love, however, was the love He displayed on the cross. His blood is the ultimate healing. Blood powerful enough to make the unclean clean and reconcile us with our heavenly Father, and blood powerful enough to be an intermediary of salvation so that God’s people will have a more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. Christ heals us through His crucifixion. He takes on all of our sins, reconciling us to our Creator by His enormous and selfless sacrifice. This proves to be the ultimate act of healing and compassion.