No matter where Jesus went, there they were. People flocked to him, pressing upon him and trying to get just a touch, just a word, maybe a crust of bread, maybe a miracle. It was enough to wear a person out.
Yet, Jesus saw the great crowd and had compassion for them, and in spite of his hunger and fatigue, he began to teach, to touch, to heal. You can picture Jesus walking among the demanding crowds, like a shepherd walking in the midst of his milling flock of sheep: the sheep crying out in their confusion turning this way and that, packed together for a sense of security. There is Jesus in the midst of them, within an arm's reach, working the crowd for the sake of the Divine Creator.
Compassion requires up close and personal commitment. The word itself means 'to suffer with' and 'suffering with' cannot be done from afar. Compassion doesn't ignore or circumvent or even turn a blind eye to the suffering before them. Compassion walks into the crowd, staying within arms' length, hearing and smelling the needs of others.
God's great act of compassion was to be present among us in Jesus. Thus is the power of the incarnation = God taking on human flesh. In Jesus, God walked among us, within arms' reach, up close and personal. This was no virtual reality; Jesus was no hologram. As we suffered so suffered Jesus; as we die, so Jesus died. Compassion - to suffer with another.
Mark records no special miracle performed that day, but of course, having the Savior of the Cosmos within arms' length comes amazingly close.
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