Mar 8:2 I have compassion on the multitude,
Mar 8:2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat:
As with so many of Christ's saying in Greek, there is an interesting bit of wordplay here that is lost in English translation. The Greek term that KJV translates as "have compassion" is only used in the New Testament. It doesn't exist elsewhere in Greek literature. It is based on the general Greek term for the inner organs. It is connected to the idea that the inner organs are the seat of human feelings (something supported by recent research into brain). The English terms "eating one's heart out" and having "gut feelings" or having one's "insides ache" carry a similar sensibility. There is also a religious side that has not parallel in English because term is also liguistically related to the idea of eating the inner organs of an altar sacrifice.
So, Christ is saying, "I am eating my heart out because this crowd has been with me three days and they have had nothing to eat."
So, the statement is a pun. In Greek, Christ often seems light-hearted, playing word games even about serious matters. A translation that captured all of Christ's wordplay might be called "Christ the Joker."
It also infers empathy: my insides ache because their insides ache.
On a deeper symbolic level, the statement also connects the physical and the emotional. Empathy is our emotional connection to others. No human can know another person's emotional pain, but our shared feeling of physical pain, as in hunger pains, provides us a basis for understanding each others feelings. In other words, physical pain is necessary for us to understand each other's emotional pain. We may see pain as evil, but Christ sees it a necessary condition to make a meaningful connection to one another. An idea that is discussed in more depth in my essay on the "problem" of evil.
"Have compassion" is from splanchnizomai (splagchnizomai), which means to "to feel great compassion." It is a New Testament word. It is from splanchnon which means ones insides, inner organs, which were seen as the seat of feelings among the Greeks, the "chest" the higher feelings and the belly the lower. It is also is related to splanchneuô, which means eating the inner organz of a sacrifice or prophesying from those innards organs.
"Multitude" is from ochlos (ochlos), which means "a throng" or "multitude" but which also mean "trouble" and "annoyance." Our word "mob" really captures the idea best.
"Been with me" is from prosmenô (prosmeno), which means "to wait," "to remain attached," and "to cleave to."
