Living with Compassion
Compassion is hard. So many times, we attempt to justify our merciless actions of indifference by looking at the life of another individual through a fleshly lens of value. As a result, we ignore true needs of those around us and justify our self-righteous activities. This approach to life comes naturally because it is motivated and led by the self-centered nature of the flesh.
Jesus describes that living with compassion is part of the ethic of His kingdom. In Luke 10, Jesus was tested by a lawyer who asked about eternal life. Jesus’ responded by giving the Great Commandment, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. To which the lawyer asked a second question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered this question with the parable of the Good Samaritan.
The parable tells us that a man was traveling between Jericho and Jerusalem when he was assaulted, robbed, and left for dead. Hopeless and desperate the man laid when two separate religious leaders came by on two separate occasions. Each of the religious individuals seeing the man crossed over and passed on the other side of the road. These men, though religious, simply looked through self-righteous, fleshly glasses. But then the story takes an amazing turn with the introduction of a new character, the Samaritan. The Samaritan would be considered a half breed because he was part Gentile and part Jew. Neither the Jews, nor the Gentiles would look at this individual highly. But he would be the compassionate game changer.
The Samaritan saw the needs of the man and was moved to compassion. The Bible says that the Samaritan saw the man in his condition and had compassion on him. This meant that the hopeless state of the man was so great that everything in the Samaritan was moved to respond to the great need of the man. The Samaritan could not ignore what the self-righteous chose to be blinded about. The movement of compassion went beyond a feeling and moved to an activity. The response of the Samaritan did not end with emotional stimuli. Instead, the Samaritan was moved to action. The Bible explains that he went to the hopeless man and bandaged his wounds. The Samaritan saw the trouble the man was in and responded not with the feeling of compassion, but with the activity of compassion. The Samaritan compassion led to making a difference in the life of the individual who was left hopeless.
The activity was never about the Samaritan, but was an act of selfless sacrifice. The Samaritan had one main concern, the well-being of the one he found. The Bible says that he left the injured man with the innkeeper and gave the keeper two denarii. That would have been an astronomical amount, but went on to say do whatever is needed and I will repay it the next time through. The Samaritan did not want the glory. The Samaritan just wanted to make sure healing took place. The cost was never the issue. He was prepared to be sacrificial for the sake of the one who was nothing like him. The Samaritan models a wonderful definition of compassion for us. In the Samaritan, we find that compassion is a merciful response to a recognized need driven by a deep love moving one to a responsive activity. This type of compassion truly comes from obedience to the leading of the Spirit.
But as great as the Samaritan’s response was, let me tell you a greater act of compassion. The Lord responded to our need of a Redeemer in the life, ministry, and work of Christ. This was an act of mercy driven by God’s great, deep love for us. It was an act of selflessness and sacrifice. If you want to truly experience the life of compassion, it begins by responding to God’s act of compassion in a faith based relationship with Jesus Christ. There is no better day than today to respond to God’s compassionate offering of salvation.
