He had compassion on them.

Matthew 14:14 NIV

The Greek word for compassion is splanchnizomai, which won't mean much to you unless you are in the health professions and studies "splanchnology" in school. If so, you remember that "splanchnology" is a study of... the gut.

When Matthew writes that Jesus had compassion on the people, he is not saying that Jesus felt casual pity for them. No, the term is far more graphic. Matthew is saying that Jesus felt their hut in his gut:

He felt the limp of the crippled.
He felt the hurt of the diseased.
He felt the loneliness of the leper.
He felt the embarrassment of the sinful.

And once he felt their hurts, he couldn't help but heal their hurts.

In the Eye of the Storm
-Max Lucado