Compassion Over Callousness

I am reminded of the urgent need for the ChASM Project nearly every time I glance over the headlines. In one recent story, a 13-year-old stabbed a 16-year-old to death. That’s one young man dead, and another one facing decades in prison. Neither will fulfill what God had planned for them.

It is tragic, and all too often, it seems like just another killing. The many tragedies of this world can cause even the most tender people to become jaded. God did not design us to carry the emotional weight of every tragedy all over the world, and the 24-hour news cycle has led many of us to gradually replace empathy with apathy. It is understandable, but that’s not Jesus’ heart on the matter.

Jesus said in John 17:18 that He has sent us into the world as the Father sent Him into the world. That suggests that we should respond to tragedy as Jesus responded to it. Consider the example of the widow of Nain in Luke 7:11-15. She was a widow, which means her husband was dead, and her only son was left fatherless. But it got worse for this widow, because her only son died unexpectedly. As Jesus walked into Nain, the townspeople were going to bury him, but Jesus had compassion on her, and raised her son from the dead.

This word compassion means “with suffering,” and the Greek text shows more literally that Jesus’ inner parts were moved in response to the widow’s suffering. There are three words in English that you might experience when you see someone suffer. Sympathy is feeling sad for someone, empathy is feeling sad with someone, and compassion is responding to alleviate their suffering.

Jesus was so moved by this woman’s suffering that he not only felt sad for her and with her, but responded to alleviate her suffering. Likewise, you and I should choose to respond to alleviate others’ suffering. In the case of the 13-year-old alleged murderer and the 16-year-old victim, it is, regrettably, too late to help. However, we can respond to other young men earlier in the process to prevent it from happening again. That’s the heart of the ChASM Project, and I believe this approach best reflects the compassionate example Jesus set for us.

You may not be able to show compassion every time you hear sad news. Sometimes, it is too late or too far away. However, you should do whatever you can to alleviate others’ suffering when it is within your reach. Toward that end, I encourage you to choose to be like Jesus by choosing empathy over apathy, and compassion over callousness.