The Compassion of Christ and His Popularity
The Compassion of Christ and His Popularity
First: I would like to congratulate you, my brothers and my children, on the glorious Feast of the Nativity and on the beginning of a new year, asking for peace and reassurance for the whole world—especially for our country Egypt and for the Middle East—may God stretch out His mercy over these holy lands, and grant consolation from Him to the families of the victims of the earthquake in Iran, and the victims of the airplane in both Lebanon and Sharm El-Sheikh. And may He solve our country’s economic problems, stop the fighting in both Palestine and Iraq, and may love and peace prevail throughout the whole world, and joy abound on the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord Christ, to Him be glory…
The Lord Christ was a source of love everywhere and with everyone…
And how beautiful is what was said about Him—that He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), and that “He went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every weakness among the people. So His fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to Him all the sick, afflicted with various diseases and pains, the demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics, and He healed them. And great crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.” (Matt. 4:23–25).
Such was His popularity: He went to the people, and the crowds came to Him.
He used to enter people’s homes and mingle with them: He entered the house of Simon Peter, and the house of Matthew, and the house of Simon the Pharisee, and the house of Zacchaeus the tax collector, and the house of Mary and Martha, and the house of St. Mark, and other houses. And He spoke and conversed…
He met people and spoke to them: on the road, on the shore of the lake, from a boat on the sea, in the fields, in deserted places, on the mountain, at Jacob’s well… And He also entered the synagogues of the Jews and taught the people in them… He was for all. He came for everyone, to save that which was lost…
The crowds followed Him by the thousands, and sometimes pressed upon Him. In the miracle of healing the paralytic, those carrying him could not enter the house—because of the severe crowding—to present him to Him for healing, so they uncovered the roof of the house and lowered him (Mark 2).
And in the miracle of feeding the multitudes with the five loaves and the two fish, the number of men listening to His sermon was five thousand, besides women and children (Matt. 14:21), meaning about ten thousand, even though they were in a deserted place.
And in His Sermon on the Mount, multitudes of people were listening to Him… (Matt. 5:1).
And after the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, the Pharisees and chief priests consulted against Him, angry and saying, “Behold, the world has gone after Him” (John 12:19).
Christ was a great compassionate heart, giving of His tenderness to all…
He was a heart open to everyone. Every person found a share in Him, whatever kind of person he was, whatever his age, whatever his social condition, culture, or ignorance… He was for all—a loving, beloved heart, overflowing with compassion and teaching upon all who came into contact with Him—even His opponents, as He did with Simon the Pharisee when He visited him in his home (Luke 7), and as He received with all tenderness the sinful woman when she washed His feet with her tears in the house of that Pharisee. And as He prayed for His crucifiers, saying: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
He was hope for the hopeless, and a helper for the helpless.
Those with incurable diseases found in Him their hope of healing. Examples include the blind, and the man born blind, whom He healed (John 9). And likewise the leper and the paralytic. And the sick man at Bethesda, who spent thirty-eight years in his illness, finding no one to help him into healing. Christ Himself came to him—with His heart and His compassion, and His understanding of human needs… and healed him, and made him carry his bed and walk (John 5:1–9). To these are added the mute and the deaf.
And how many were the cases of His healing of those tormented by demons. Perhaps the most famous was Legion, in whom a legion of demons had dominion (Luke 8:26–33). And also Mary Magdalene, from whom He expelled seven demons, and she followed Him as a disciple (Luke 8:3).
And He was a compassionate heart toward sinners also, considering them as the sick in need of treatment.
He dealt gently with them to lead them to repentance. He said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick… I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Matt. 9:12–13). And He also said that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance (Luke 15:7).
Thus He forgave the repentant, weeping sinner in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7). And He saved from stoning the sinful woman caught in the very act. And when the scribes and Pharisees asked Him about stoning her, He said His famous phrase: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her” (John 8:7). And when He saved her from them and they departed, He said to her, “…Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more…”
And with the same compassionate heart, He led the Samaritan woman to repentance, without wounding her feelings, so she believed and went to preach Him to the people of Samaria (John 4).
And He told the people the story of the Prodigal Son, and of the father’s joy at his return and repentance, saying: “It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found” (Luke 15:24–32).
The sinners whom no one could bear, Christ bore them…
And in His compassion also He pitied women and children, who did not receive sufficient esteem in Jewish society…
He raised the status of women to a degree never known before. After healing Mary Magdalene, He made her as one of His disciples. And He kept the Passover in the house of Mary, the mother of John called Mark, whose house later became the first church (Acts 12:12). And He sometimes visited the house of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:28). And when their brother Lazarus died, He went to his tomb and raised him, and even wept, so they said, “See how He loved him” (John 11:35–36).
And from His uplifting of the value of women, many women followed Him and served Him from their possessions (Luke 8:3).
As for children, Christ loved them and defended them. He admired the purity of their hearts. And to give a lesson to His disciples, He called a child and placed him in their midst and said to them, “Unless you repent and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).
And He said, “Whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble… it would be better for him that a millstone be hung around his neck and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matt. 18:6).
And once, when His disciples rebuked some children for coming to Him, He scolded them, saying, “Let the children come to Me and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:14).
And in Christ’s compassion for all, He defended the Gentiles (non-Jews) and praised them.
When He saw the faith of the Gentile centurion in the healing of his servant by a word from Christ, He said to those following Him: “Truly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. And I tell you that many will come from east and west and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness” (Matt. 8:10–12).
Likewise, He praised the Canaanite woman for her humility, and said to her: “O woman, great is your faith” (Matt. 15:28), and He healed her daughter…
The Lord Christ loved the people, and they loved Him. But the leaders of the people envied Him and conspired against Him.
They did not care for the shepherding and guidance of the people. And if they guided them, they guided them into error! Therefore it was said of the Lord Christ: “When He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd” (Matt. 9:36).
And in His compassion He was ready to bear the burdens of these people and help them. Therefore He said to them: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
The Lord Christ is a practical lesson in His compassion and His popularity, and in His pursuit of every person in distress to relieve him of his distress…
And as we celebrate His Nativity, we ask Him for blessing for our country and our people, and we pray that God protect Egypt and its president who works hard for its sake, along with all who work with him.
And every year, may you all be well.
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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Al-Ahram newspaper on 7-1-2004.
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