I love my mother. She was a no-nonsense woman who was smart, hardworking, tolerant and kind. She grew up in England in the first few decades of the last century; the cultural and generational influences were evident in how she approached life and her overall philosophy of life. One of her favorite sayings was some version of “You made your bed, now lie in it”. In other words, you created the problem, now deal with it. Her favorite Scripture on the other hand was Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” My mother worked hard to find the good and focus on it in the midst of any struggle she was going through, or in people she met. She was not a warm and fuzzy person, but she cared. She had compassion for others that was independent of her own circumstances and needs.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines compassion as: sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it. To frame it more elaborately:
“Compassion literally means “to suffer together.” Among emotion researchers, it is defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering.
Compassion is not the same as empathy or altruism, though the concepts are related. While empathy refers more generally to our ability to take the perspective of and feel the emotions of another person, compassion is when those feelings and thoughts include the desire to help. Altruism, in turn, is the kind, selfless behavior often prompted by feelings of compassion, though one can feel compassion without acting on it, and altruism isn’t always motivated by compassion.” (https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/compassion/definition)
In Exodus 33, Moses asks God to show him His glory; God responds by saying that no man can see His face and live, and then lets Moses know that because he has found favor with God, God will allow Moses to see his back. So, God puts him in a little crevice in a rock and covers him up until God has passed by, then uncovers him. In chapter 34, verses 7-8, God describes Himself in this way: “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” Why did God have to add that last part after that beautiful beginning? It somehow seems mean spirited, in opposition to compassionate. But having compassion does not mean that you have to let go of all standards and expectations. The Israelites had been immensely disrespectful and disobedient towards God by turning away from Him yet again, and this time because they thought that the man of God, Moses, was taking too long up on the mountain talking with God! They got impatient and built themselves a golden calf to worship instead of the one true God. We should not be surprised that this made God angry. Yet even in His righteous anger, He allowed Moses to intercede for the people, and agreed to still go with them, guide and protect them. When I have someone turn so harshly and quickly on me, I am not that quick to have compassion and mercy. And even worse, this was not the first time that the Israelites had turned their backs on God, despite His miracles before them. Compassionate? Yes. Just? Yes. Jealous? Yes.
From the start, God identifies Himself as a compassionate God who is slow to anger. That compassion for the Israelites prompted God to continue to be their God, claim them as His people, and stay with them through everything. It must have taken a great deal of patience to work with the Israelites. Although if I am honest, it must take a great deal of patience to work with me as well. I am not as faithful as I could be to the God I profess to love and serve! And He does have to show me or tell me things over and over again before I start to listen. Have you ever noticed how often the Bible tells us not to be afraid, and that God is with us? It’s because we all need to hear it over and over again for it to sink into our heads and our hearts. God, in His compassionate nature, does not mind being repetitive for us.
Perhaps our most compelling example of compassion is the Man, Jesus Christ. The gospels describe Jesus as having compassion on those around Him, and that compassion drove Him to heal, feed, teach and be with those for whom He had compassion. Jesus was willing to give up His own comfort to demonstrate compassion; He extended His “workday” and went without rest in order to meet needs. Take the feeding of the five thousand for example. Matthew 14:13-16 starts the account of the miracle just after Jesus had heard that His cousin, John the Baptist, had been beheaded: “13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” 16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”” Jesus could probably have used some alone time with His Father to mourn the death of His cousin, but His compassion pushed Him to set aside His own grief and help those who needed Him.
Jesus told two parables that describe compassionate behaviors. One is known as the Parable of the Good Samaritan (we still use that phrase today; in fact, there is a law called the Good Samaritan Law that protects people who show compassion). In Luke 10:30-37, Jesus tells the story of a man, a Jew, who was badly hurt and left to die on the side of the road. No one would help him, including a priest, indeed they avoided him, except for the Samaritan who went above and beyond to ensure that the man was taken care of. What is remarkable about the Samaritan, is not only that he helped, but that he did it despite being part of a group of people who were despised by the Jews.
Also found in Luke, in chapter 15 is the other parable, The Parable of the Prodigal Son, or the Forgiving Father, as some like to call it. This son had taken his share of the inheritance early, and left home. He squandered all his money until he had none left and was forced to perform the most degrading and menial jobs just to survive. He finally came to his senses and decided to go and ask his father, who was wealthy, for forgiveness and a job. When his father saw him, Luke 15:20, tells us that “his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” The father did a lot more than just kiss his son: he got him the best robe, gave him his ring and sandals, and prepared a feast. In fact, he was so good to him that the other son was jealous, and the father had to help him understand what compassion was all about.
In all these accounts, compassion was the motivation for some kind of action. Compassion may start as a feeling, but it always results in action. Compassion is when we can look past the exterior, see the need underneath and are willing to do something to take care of that need. Compassion moves us to give of ourselves beyond what we believe we are capable of. Compassion that is driven by the love of God bears fruit, profits the receiver and giver.
My mother had compassion. We were not a rich family by any standard, yet she gave others what she could. I remember one instance in particular: we did not have a washing machine and always did our laundry by hand in a big wash tub and hung it out to dry. It was hard work. One day, I remember coming home and seeing a woman washing our laundry, dressed in her beautiful traditional Arab dress that she had handsewn and embroidered. I knew we had little, but when I asked my mother some time later how and why she had hired her to do laundry, she simply replied that we had more than the woman did, and the woman had children to feed. Much to my mother’s delight, that woman washed our laundry for years!
My mother did not speak much about her faith, but in her strong and steady manner she shone the Light of the world on others. She lived her faith as best she could, in the way she believed she should, by taking care of others’ needs in her own quiet way.
My encouragement to you is that you rest in Jesus Christ and allow the Light of the world to shine through you and onto others. Through Him we have strength and perseverance to do what we doubted we could. It is through His grace, and because He first loved us, that we have compassion for others that moves us to action. It is for His praise and glory that we are moved to act out of compassion. God bless you!
Living in the Light of the world 