Compassion
May 27, 2008
Dear Friends,
Stephen Covey, author of the bestselling book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, told the story of riding on a subway. There was a man on the subway whose children were running all over the place and annoying the other passengers. The man did nothing to discipline his children. Stephen finally had enough and spoke to the man pointing out how poorly his children were behaving. The man apologized and explained that they had just come from the hospital where his wife and the mother of the children had died. Suddenly, the demeanor of the passengers changed. Those who a minute earlier had been condemning the father now fell all over themselves to comfort the man and his children.
Compassion is a byproduct of judgment. We are compassionate to those people we deem “worthy” of our compassion. We cheer in movies when the bad guy gets what he had coming to him. This “justice” in getting one’s “just desserts” applies to virtually everyone but us. We certainly don’t want God to reward us according to our iniquity, but to forgive us. Likewise, we somehow feel wronged if we get a speeding ticket for doing 50 in a 45, but perhaps smirk when we see the guy pulled over that passed us a while back.
We are often quick to judge other people. Perhaps we are not even aware of it when we do it. We casually say things like “well, if I was in this position, I would do so and so.” The fact is, unless we have already been in that position, we don’t know what we would do. Even then, our path to that point might be considerably different than the other person’s path and thus make them entirely dissimilar situations.
We have even seen judgment by those who consider themselves Christians that borders on sadistic. We have seen “Christians” gloat over the AIDS epidemic in the homosexual community. We have seen “Christians” discuss with glee a disaster that might befall some non-Christian country or even a city they deem particularly sinful like New Orleans. We justify that perspective because in our view, they got what they deserved. Most of the time, though, this perspective is proportionate to our ignorance and inversely proportionate with our intimacy with the situation. The less we know about what is really going on and the further that situation is distanced from us, the more we are likely to express a condemning attitude. It is interesting to see people’s attitudes change when something they have been highly critical of hits their own family.
Jesus was full of compassion. It is recorded over and over that Jesus was compassionate toward people. Here are just a few incidences:
- But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. (Mt 9:36)
- And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. (Mr 1:41)
- And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things. (Mr 6:34)
If there was ever a man on this earth who qualified to have little sympathy it was Jesus. He was perfect. In living perfection, he could legitimately ask flawlessness of others because it was no less than what he asked of himself. He could have said to himself “these people have neither met my high standard nor followed my lead and therefore I will have no compassion on them.” As we know, he did not do this. In fact, he seems to demonstrate more compassion than his disciples do on several occasions. Do we find ourselves in the indefensible position of having less compassion than Jesus all the while keeping a lower standard of conduct than Jesus?
The Bible would seem to indicate that we cannot truly be disciples of Christ without a high degree of compassion. The Apostle John tells us “Whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?’ (1Jo 3:17)
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Col. 3:12-14 NIV)
Have a great week,
