I am struck by Your compassion

I was reading this morning in Matthew. Matthew 14 opens with John the Baptist being beheaded by Herod. John was in prison because he had told Herod that he shouldn't have married his brother Philip's wife. This very same wife arranges for John to be beheaded. After the execution, John's disciples retrieve his body, and bury it. They then go and tell Jesus. The pivotal verse in my opinion is:

"When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the nearby towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, and healed their sick." Matthew 8:13-14

Jesus has just heard that his cousin John has been killed. Jesus decides to go off somewhere alone. We see a few verses later that Jesus spends the evening alone, sending away even the disciples, praying. It looks ot me like Jesus wanted a few minutes with God, like Jesus wanted a few minutes of solitary time to mourn for John, yet when he gets somewhere solitary, he is met by a crowd of people who need him. A crowd of people who want to be healed.

Jesus cared for John. Jesus liked John. "I tell you the truth, among those born of women, there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." Matthew 11:11 John's death was enough to cause Jesus to withdraw to a solitary place for some quiet time. I take two lessons from this. First, note what Jesus does when something bad happens, he steps away to pray. Second, when Jesus sees a crowd, impinging on his prayer time, he has compassion on them, he cares for their needs first, then takes care of himself. While I don't think that I can always do this, I am struck by the fact that Jesus sublimates his own needs in favor of ours.

Scripture records no sermon to the people who awaited Jesus. Scripture records only that Jesus healed their sick. I think that I can safely say that Jesus was not in an emotional state to preach, but that even in the midst of fresh grief, he cared enough for the crowd to take compassion on them.