“And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.” (Mark 6:34, NKJV)
Teaching the gospel to the lost is an act of compassion. We do not accept the judgment that clear, decisive teaching to sinners about their sin and salvation “runs people off” and “hurts people’s feelings.” We should notice this verse occurs on the day Jesus fed 5000 men with five loaves and two fish (Mark 6:35-44). Jesus did not feed the people to gather an audience. His first act of compassion upon seeing the crowd was to “teach them many things.” At the end of the day, when the teaching was over, Jesus challenged His disciples to feed the crowd (Mark 6:35-38). His miraculous feeding of the multitude met a temporary need of the body. The gospel satisfies the eternal need of the soul. Instead of offering food in an attempt to get people interested in the gospel, let us be moved by the compassion Christ, and feed their souls with the life-giving gospel of God. We are not showing compassion when we remain silent, instead of teaching the gospel to the lost. We will be held accountable for such lack of compassion (Acts 20:26-27).
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