The (Com)passion of Christ
How the example of Jesus Christ can challenge us to continue being people of compassion rather than apathy
I am really seeing that the prayer that I need to make to God more often is “Lord, expand my heart”.
To love all who God has uniquely placed in our lives — and in the ways he calls us to — is a challenging endeavor.
I think of the biblical account in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 14:13–21) where Jesus had just finished healing the sick out of compassion. As the evening drew near, his disciples mentioned it was late and that they were in a remote place. They urged him to send the crowds away, so that the crowds can go to their villages and buy food for themselves.
Jesus then challenges his disciples by then saying “They do not need to go away. YOU give them something to eat.” (v.16)
This verse really spoke to me. The disciples may have thought they had Jesus’ best interest at heart. It could also be that they felt overwhelmed or intimidated by the needs and situation in front of them.
Yet, according to Jesus, the crowds and their needs were NOT the problem.
The time of day or the fact they were in a remote place was NOT the problem.
The movement that needed to happen was in the hearts and minds of of the disciples.
Jesus REFUSED to alleviate or remove the responsibility for compassion from his disciples, as he just demonstrated in his healings.
The disciples then respond about their lack of resources: “We have ONLY five loaves of bread and two fish!”
Jesus then invites them to offer the provisions they have, and after his thanksgiving to the Father, he continually breaks the loaves and turns their few into many, their little into an abundance. The disciples took the food and gave it to the people. Not only did the people eat and were satisfied, but there was so much leftover!
In our own lives, we can begin to think that what God needs to do to remove people with needs and struggles from our orbit of concern. We want to avoid the compassion fatigue. We say that external factors like time and location are valid reasons to not respond with compassion to the real needs in front of us. We will say things like “this is not the right time!” Or “this is not the right place!”
Our traumatic experiences can also contribute to our lack of compassion.
Jesus is challenging us to see that what is actually needed is repentance and renewal in our own hearts, an offering of what we have, and then wholeheartedly trusting Jesus to do more than we can ask, think, or imagine (Ephesians 3:20–21).
God can do so much with our little. He refuses to let us become the kind of people who will be greatly inclined to say to others “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps!” and “Figure it out for yourself!”
With apathy, resignation, and selfish ambition becoming the air we are breathing as a society, we need God to rescue us from this default posture!
We need the same Holy Spirit that resurrected our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead to resurrect our hearts from its place of death.