Love is Kind: Part 3

The Kindness of Jesus

Jesus was approachable. Jesus was constantly surrounded by people. People would come from all over to see Him and to hear His teaching. Some came to see a miracle; others came out of an inner sense of need. Some came for healing; others came to find the way to eternal life. For whatever the reason, Jesus was often thronged by the crowds wanting to see and touch Him. Many times, because of the needs of the crowd and the number of people wanting to see Him, Jesus would have to sacrifice His own personal needs. “And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.” (Mark 3:20) Yet Jesus was not like the important people of today who hire body guards to keep people back and who only have time for other important people. Jesus was as comfortable with the lowliest of persons as He was with kings and priests.

There was a time when His disciples tried to prevent the people from bringing their children to be blessed by Him. “But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, ‘Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’” (Mark 10:14) The disciples did not want the children to waste the Master’s time, but Jesus didn’t see it that way. When He was with people, it never was a waste of time. There was another time when an especially sinful sinner came to worship Him. “And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.” (Luke 7:37-38) The Pharisees were indignant and murmured amongst themselves, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.” (Luke 7:39) The point is that Jesus did know what sort of person she was and He loved her just the same.

Jesus was also available. Jesus had time for people and was often willing to change His own plans to meet the need of someone seeking help. There was a particular Synagogue official whose daughter was very sick. He implored Jesus, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live.” (Mark 5:23) The scripture simply records, “And He went off with him.” (Mark 5:24) I’m sure Jesus had other plans that day, but at that moment, there seemed nothing more important to Jesus than that sick little girl. Jesus may have been busy, but He always had time for people.

Are we approachable, or do we hide ourselves away in our own busy lives? I must confess that I am not always as approachable with my own children as I should be. I can easily become too engrossed in my own activities that I do not have (or will not find) time for them; to play a game or to just listen to them. If you want to see this in action, the next time someone greets you with “Hi, how are you?” try to tell them how you really are. You will find that we have become a society that is far too busy to actually care about each other. Jesus expressed His kindness in His approachability and His availability. What else in life is so important that we do not have time for each other? If we spend all our time on ourselves, what have we gained? But if we spend ourselves in loving and caring for others, then we will find what is of true value; in this life and in the life to come.

More to come… David Robison