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3    Deep Compassion

Matthew 14:
12 John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.
13 When Jesus heard about John, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. When the crowds learned this, they followed him on foot from the cities.
14 When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed those who were sick.
15 That evening . . .
22 . . . Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead to the other side of the lake while he dismissed the crowds.
23 When he sent them away, he went up onto a mountain by himself to pray. Evening came and he was alone.
(Common English Bible)

The Lord Jesus Christ was in the middle of His busy ministry when He heard that King Herod had beheaded the Prophet John the Baptiser.
After He listened to John's disciples telling what had happened,  He decided to withdraw to a deserted place by Himself.

Why did He do this?
He too wanted to give Himself a little time to come to terms with John's death:
 He wanted to grieve over John for Himself:
    give the heaviness of His own heart over to His heavenly Father;
 He wanted to remember John,
   who had baptised Him at the beginning of His ministry;
   who had more than once announced Him to the nation as the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1: 29 and 36);
   who had told everyone that Jesus would baptise those who would trust Him with the Holy Spirit;
 He wanted to remember and be encouraged by John's faithfulness to the calling God had placed on his life;
 He wanted to think about His own future:
    to begin preparing Himself for His own death;
 He wanted to think through how to being preparing His own disciples for His coming cross;
 He wanted some time to just rest in His Father's love and be refreshed, because John's death marked the beginning of a new stage of ministry for Jesus.

Jesus simply needed some quiet, alone-time.

The problem was this:
    He encountered the very opposite what He needed!
The crowds of people anticipated where He was going and when He got to the place He saw them already waiting for Him there.

    So did He throw His hands up,
    say something negative,
    get back in the boat and
    head off somewhere else?
No:    not Jesus the Christ!

He put His own matters on hold and opened His heart to the people in compassion and healed all who were sick.
He probably wasn't up to preaching, but He could touch them with the love of God and minister to their many needs.
And this He did  - all day until evening.