The heart of the epidemic
Posted by Tim Chester on 24 December 2007
More from Organic Church by Neil Cole. Today an important reminder.‘The Heart of the Epidemic’ is Cole’s heading for a section stressing the importance of compassion on the lost …
We all know what it is like to be busy. Jesus also knows. Matthew describes Jesus’ things-to-do list this way: ‘Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness’ (Matt. 9:35).Jesus was serving an area forty miles wide and seventy miles long, roughly the size of Puerto Rico. The ancient historian Josephus tells us that there were some two hundred cities and villages in this area and that the minimum population of a village there and then was fifteen thousand.’ This means Jesus was ministering to at least three million people at this time.
He was teaching, preaching the Gospel, and healing every kind of disease and sickness. In a population of that size in the first century, He would have been extremely busy. Health care workers today could probably not begin to comprehend the task that Jesus faced.
It is comforting to know that, in the midst of my hectic life and schedule, Jesus can understand and empathize with me. He was busy like I am, but that is where the similarities end. For me, the busier I get, the less I care about others. It is a flaw that I think many of us share. But not so with Jesus. Matthew says, ‘Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them’ (Matt. 9:36). 1 tend to run past people when I am busy. I get frustrated at slow cars in front of me, long lines, and traffic jams. When Jesus saw the crowds, Lie saw more than an obstacle getting in the way of His mission. He saw His mission, and He felt compassion for them. (145)
