It changes everything.

There are very few things that could be characterized as an action or emotion that changes everything.

A student walks into your classroom. He’s the first one today. There are tears in his eyes. He tries to hold them back. He puts his head down as he follows the daily routine of putting away his things and finding his chair. He sits down and tears flow freely.

You, the teacher, have yet to prep the final parts of the whole group activity you’ve planned for the class. You’re in the middle of cutting out all the pieces necessary. You put the scissors down. You walk over to the student; there’s now a puddle of tears on the table in front of him. You kneel down beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder. He looks over to you with his tear-stained cheeks. You wipe yet another tear before it spills onto the table. You ask him if everything is alright. His eyes close; he rests his head on your shoulder and cries.

He never tells you what was wrong.

As school is ending, he comes and hugs your leg. You kneel down once again. He wraps his arms around your neck and whispers, “Thank you.”

Compassion. Your compassion changed that student’s whole day! You could have left him to his tears. But he was more important to you! And that changed everything for him.

God’s compassion changed everything for us. He changed everything by being everything for us.

In our verses for today you see Jesus worn from a long day of preaching and teaching; Jesus hadn’t even had the chance to eat. He and his disciples tried to escape the crowds for some rest. But the crowds followed them. Jesus saw them and had compassion on them “because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.” There he was before their very eyes, the Good
Shepherd, the greatest shepherd: someone who could feed them and lead them, guide and protect them and love them like only the Good Shepherd can.

We are those people. We are those people starving for guidance, searching for it anywhere we can find it, yearning for knowledge and answers in this life. Jesus so easily could have left us to our own. He could have said, “Let them figure it out, Father. I don’t have to save them.”

Yet, he had compassion on us – compassion that turned into action. And now we have the Good Shepherd with us every day, his Word always available to us. There’s nowhere else to look. He is the answer! He changed everything for us.

What was once certain death – is now eternal life!
What was once hopeless- is now hopeful!
What was once pain and suffering – is now joy beyond measure!