If the Fourth Gospel is regarded as the primary and most authoritative source concerning Jesus Christ; then it seems that Jesus hardly ever (maybe never) expressed "compassion" as we moderns would understand it.
Jesus did a lot of alleviating suffering, including in the miracles and illustrated in parables; but the purpose seems always to have been teaching, not compassion.
Jesus did very little in the way of expressing sympathy for individuals. On the contrary, his typical tone is one of scathing criticism, even a kind of sarcasm. Jesus was very seldom "nice", mostly "nasty!
Of course Jesus did express and act-upon Love a great deal, more than anything; but my point is that compassion is not love - but an optional sub-set of loving behaviours, and one that Jesus neither asked-for nor modelled for us.
Going through the IV Gospel up to the events of the Passion, it can be seen that compassion was not the focus of the major episodes:
The miracle at the wedding of Cana; Jesus is pretty sharp and scathing in his words.
The Nicodemus episode; again Jesus is almost mocking towards Nicodemus, in his efforts to snap Nicodemus out of his habitual thinking.
The Samaritan woman at the well; Jesus adopts a stern tone towards the woman.
The Nobleman who asks Jesus to heal his dying son; Jesus is very matter of fact, no compassion expressed.
The healing by the pool at Bethesda; again no compassion - mostly focused on teaching about the Sabbath.
Feeding the five thousand; Jesus goes to great lengths to present this as Not about feeding the hungry, but instead an illustration of the transience of earthly bread compared with Heavenly "bread".
The woman taken in adultery; Jesus is very crisp towards her - despite that she is facing a horrible death, and instead mostly addresses the accusing bystanders on the subject of sin.
Healing the man born blind; again, no compassion expressed, instead Jesus says the whole thing (including, it seems, the man's lifelong blindness) was so that "the works of God should be made manifest in him" - teaching, not sympathy.
And so on.
Jesus's message is about what we want most.
Is it resurrected eternal life in Heaven - or... something else?
Those who most want compassion, and regard "compassion for suffering" as the highest ethical value, should look elsewhere - Buddhism perhaps? But not to Jesus Christ.
Or maybe they should consider where a primary ethic of compassion will ultimately lead them...
