Compassion

Jesus instructs us to “… go and learn what this means, ‘I desire compassion and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13, NASB)

He further admonishes the Pharisees saying “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” (Matthew 12:7)

He’s correcting the religious leaders and y’all, I think he’d be correcting them still today. 

Compassion here is Strong’s 1656, the Greek word “eleos,” or in our language, mercy.  Mercy defined as kindness or good will towards others, specifically the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them:

a.      of people towards people: to exercise the virtue of mercy, show one's self merciful

b.     of God towards men: in general providence; the mercy and clemency of God in providing and offering to men salvation by Christ

c.      the mercy of Christ, whereby at his return to judgment he will bless true Christians with eternal life

Since we’re not God and we are not Christ, the first definition is directed towards us, as those who claim Christ, who claim to have been changed in the heart, having received the Holy Spirit.  I have got to tell you though, and this is hard:  We are lacking compassion for those we disagree with.  We’re lacking compassion for those we don’t understand, live like, look like.  We are lacking compassion when it comes to way too many things lately.  And that hurts- I would venture to say it hurts God’s heart.  Here are the children of God, who have been called to be light in the world, who have been advised to let our light so shine before men that they may see God and send glory God’s way, acting mercilessly to one another.

It’s like love.  Love is kind of the job. It is kind of the primary focus of what we are called to be as Christ followers.  1.  Love God.  2.  Love God’s kids.  As I’ve said before, if they’ve got a heartbeat, that’s God’s kid.  Every single one of us. God wishes that none should perish, but to bring those who were created back into the loving arms of the Creator.  So why on this gorgeous earth are we so dang mean to one another? Heavens!  Y’all, we are mean.  And every single one of us has been a part of it in some way, shape or form. 

This pandemic, this political climate has brought out the worst in us, hands down.  I am guilty of it- Lord knows that I have had my share of moments of screaming into my pillow about something that just goes against every single fiber of my being.  But it doesn’t matter, the bottom line is that I still must show compassion, mercy to whomever it is because whether I see it or not, that person is God’s kid.

Personally, I have had an extraordinarily difficult time having compassion for our president.  My husband can attest to the mouth I have had about this man, as can a few other folks I have been 100% transparent with.  And then I came across Matthew 9:13 and again at Matthew 12:7. Well crap.  Now I have to find a way to be compassionate for a man who makes my skin crawl; who demeans women; who lies; who shirks responsibility but wants all the power; who has alienated our entire country from our allies by his words and actions.  Crap.

So how do we find compassion deep inside for someone who rails against 99.9% of the things we believe in? I wish it were an easy answer.  It isn’t.  How do I show mercy for someone who degrades the very fabric of what I hold most dear? I honestly think this is where the work is for now.  I do not know.  I know I can work toward compassion for most anyone I disagree with.  For a time, I could tell myself, “he’s someone’s granddaddy” and convince myself to give a little bit of compassion.  That was four years ago though and that reason wore out a long time ago.

My work will be digging deeper here because as much as I love to vocalize the love God and love people message, I can honestly say I struggle with extending it to this one person.  This one person stopped me from posting this for over three weeks.  This one person, who in my estimation is the word picture of what is wrong with our country right now, and my inability or lack of capacity to at a minimum have compassion for, is stunting my growth.

For me, I’ll start with Jesus.  I’m fairly certain he has the upper hand on having those who literally were against everything he was.  He didn’t ignore their wrongness. Compassion doesn’t ignore wrongness. Compassion doesn’t mean that we don’t hold people accountable, especially, ESPECIALLY those in positions of leadership.  Compassion does mean though, that I have to try.

Crap.  I have my work cut out for me.

 

*Please do not take this to mean I will be voting for him because I unequivocally, unabashedly, and loudly will not vote for a man who goes against everything I hold most dear.