Exodus 34:6-7

6 The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

7 I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected – even children in the third and fourth generations.” 

Over the next seven Bible study parts, we’re breaking down Exodus 34:6-7 to understand who God is. My goal is to break down the different characteristics that we see listed here, and see how Jesus embraced these characteristics and how we can embrace them. 

Understanding Compassion

Today, we talk about compassion. It’s the Hebrew adjective rachuwm (ra-khoom’). It describes the stirring of gentle forgiveness within God’s personality. It connects with parental compassion, a forgiveness that hopes to relieve misery and restores a relationship. In the Exodus 34:6 verse, Moses shows us that God’s mercy is something that is essential. This connects to the ministry of Jesus in our focus verse today: Matthew 9:36. 

Overall, we see that believers confess their sin trusting that God’s compassion will guide them to forgiveness and reconciliation. It’s an encouragement for us to offer gentleness and reconciliation. This is extended to all people, not just those we know or other believers. 

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: How do you understand God’s compassion as of right now? What does compassion mean to you? 

Matthew 9:36 – Jesus Embodies Compassion

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 

Jesus traveled often through all the towns and villages nearby, teaching everywhere about the Gospel message. He also healed a lot of people that were dealing with a lot of diseases and illnesses. 

Jesus often attracted large diverse groups in Judea and Galilee that were drawn to the message of Jesus. The compassion Jesus describes is a deep, visceral empathy. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s love and mercy. The compassion mentioned is not just emotional, but it leads to action through His healing and teaching. The people in the crowds were both harassed and helpless, showing that they were overwhelmed by the legalism and the Roman occupation. The crowds faced spiritual oppression and the lack of true guidance from the leaders there. The crowds were seen as sheep, creatures that needed guidance and protection. The lack of a true shepherd signifies a lack of leadership and care. Moses and David were seen as Shepherds in the Old Testament, and Jesus is seen as the Ultimate Shepherd in the New Testament. 

Extending Deep Empathy

Jesus saw the crowds, who faced a lot of suffering through religious and societal legalism. They faced a hope of a stronger spiritual life, thinking that there was more to following Christ than just the rules. In my opinion, through my studies and experiences, there is. Our relationship with Christ is focused on how we can both love God with all of who we are, and how we can love others as God loves us. There are certain ways that we need to live that honor God and properly reflect His character to those that we meet, and those ways are found in both the Torah’s call to covenant faithfulness and the Gospel’s call to love of the New Testament. This was the whole basis of this Bible study. To understand who God is through the original Israelite connections, and through how Jesus and the disciples reach all of humanity. 

We’re seeing that Jesus wants to offer the crowds guidance, healing, and shepherding of what it means to follow Christ, and that’s something that religions tend to make difficult. Different Christians religions have different beliefs, stipulations, legalities, and more to separate themselves from what they tend to disagree with. I experienced this through the recent United Methodist separation through the Global Methodist church over the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people. The more conservative crowds tend to exclude them from leadership and inclusion in the church overall, and the more progressive crowds are including them at all times. Jesus wants us to focus on those that often feel harassed and helpless – often what I understand to be the marginalized community. The Bible tends to label them as the widows and the orphans, those that tend to need support from those around in order to receive their best way to leave. Some of us have an easy way to receive what they need to live. Some of us need to go through a lot of routes in order to obtain what they need to survive, which can lead to restrictions through unjust sources, tight rules, and accessibility issues. This is where we come in. We can provide extra resources, time, and energy in order to help others out. Either provide the resources or the help to get the resources. Share in their hurts. Seek to understand their struggles. Work alongside them to provide the proper help and support to ensure their needs are met. 

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: When we start to understand how Jesus looked at compassion, how can we extend that same empathy to those around us?