The Path of Discipleship - The Meaning of Compassion

This article begins a new section, reflecting on another  virtue of discipleship, compassion.  There are several ideas in the Bible that might funnel into this virtue of compassion.  In Psalm 86, God is described as “gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and full of kindness and truth.” Before the feeding of the multitudes in Matthew, Jesus is described as having compassion for the people.  Although he intended to withdraw to be alone for a while, his compassion for the crowds that followed him into the wilderness moved him to heal the people and feed them. (Matthew 14:13-21)  The author of Ephesians instructs the church saying, “Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”(Ephesians 4:31-32)  The church of Christ is supposed to be a model of the compassion of Christ.

            The word compassion comes from a Latin word that means to suffer with or experience with.  It means allowing yourself to consider the feelings of someone else, to pay attention to another person’s experience and embrace the feelings that experience might invoke.  It is not feeling sorry for someone, but feeling sorrow, joy, anger and excitement with someone.  I cannot know exactly how someone feels, but I can imagine how I would feel if I were living their story and in that way I am drawn to become part of the story with them.

            Compassion is what moves people to feed the hungry, because they can identify with hunger.  I know what it’s like to miss a meal and can imagine how that might feel extended out over time.  Compassion is what moves people to respond to natural disasters.  The rational part of us might question those who build their homes in flood zones, yet the compassionate part of us can imagine what it means to lose everything and watch your home washed away.  True compassion has few boundaries: no religion, no race and no official language.  It draws us into shared human experience as we allow ourselves to feel the joys and struggles of someone else.

            In recent years for the church, a large part of living compassionately has been listening to the stories of “other” people, people outside our normal parameters.  We have listened to the stories from the LGBTQ community, stories that the church dismissed (and in some cases, still dismisses) as a collection immoral choices.  We heard stories of people who grew up feeling different, who were rejected for being who they are, who were excluded from family and faith community for being honest with themselves.  And compassion for those stories has led the church to question its past, to question its scriptural interpretations, to challenge itself about the limits of acceptance.  In some cases, compassion has led the church to take a stand, risking division for the sake of compassionate justice.

            In the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, we have been struggling to hear the stories of racial minorities in our church body.  According to a 2014 survey by the Pew Foundation, the ELCA is one of the least diverse religious bodies in the United States (96% white).  Because of this, we have been guilty of ignoring other voices, assuming a church shaped by European culture should be the cultural norm for Lutheranism.  A challenging reflection on this can be found in the documentary, Do Black Churches Matter to the ELCA which you can link to here: Do Black Churches Matter to the ELCA

            Compassion starts with mindful listening, paying attention to the neighbor, the stranger, the “other.”  This is not a time to give advice (unless it is asked for).  It is not a time to think of a clever response.  It is a time simply to listen and learn in love.  This may move us to prayerful action.  It may move us to bold advocacy.  It may move us in directions that are not always comfortable.  Compassion moved Jesus to feed the crowds but also led him to his death on the cross.

            Compassion is of the essence of who God has revealed God’s self to be.  It is the essence of the story of Jesus.  It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that dwells among us.  May compassion become who we are, because compassion is what we have been made to be by a compassionate God.