Compassion

Charles Dickens uses The Life of Our Lord to demonstrate the extraordinary and heroic virtues of Jesus Christ. However, some of these virtues are more important to Dickens than others. For instance, Dickens often praises Jesus for his tenderness and unusual kindness and argues that no greater man ever lived. Dickens is most impressed by the compassion demonstrated by Jesus, and seeks to bring out this virtue. First, Dickens emphasizes Jesus' teachings about compassion, such as his teaching that human beings are to love their neighbors as themselves. He points out Jesus' teachings that the poor deserve the help of the better off. And he argues that the widow who gave a larger percentage of her smaller income to the poor was more blessed than those who gave more but had more and so missed it less.

Jesus' acts of compassion are highlighted as well. For instance, while...