Compassion is a Person

Late one winter night, the woman stood outside the grocery store with her young child, begging for money.  I cannot tell you the color of her thin coat, or the approximate age of her child, or the look in her eyes.  I cannot tell you because I walked away. With my arms full of groceries for my own family, I didn’t look back.

I had decided I would no longer give anything to people begging at that corner.  After all, they came because they knew that’s where foreigners shop.  I’ve seen the same few people there again and again.  Besides, it made me angry that the mother selfishly kept her child up so late, using her to make her cause more convincing. And my own kids were waiting for me—the night was filled with our own extenuating circumstances.

But as soon as I walked away, I knew. I knew it wasn’t my job to judge her motives or whether she was truly needy.  I knew that I didn’t really need the extra loaf of bread of the top of my bag.  I knew the problem was my heart.

I made a decision that day.  You see, making ‘rules’ about certain locations, or types of people… this just gave me an excuse for closing my heart.  The point is not that I would make a new ‘rule’ to give bread to every beggar.  The point is that I would live every day with an open, merciful heart.

When we read the familiar story about the good Samaritan, we see the response we know we ‘should’ have. We feel guilty.  We remember times we have turned away.  We meant to go back, but there were good reasons… Yet when I re-read this story this morning, I saw something I never had before.  The story is not primarily about how we are supposed to live.  The story presents a Person we are to follow.  Jesus is the Good Samaritan. 

I like words.  I do geeky things like look up words and how and when they are used. The phrase that describes how the Samaritan responded to the wounded man—He “felt compassion.” His open heart proceeded his response to the helpless one—a response of coming, bandaging wounds, and bringing him to the Inn.  This phrase is only used in the gospels, and it is only used to describe God Himself. 

When He saw the multitudes, Jesus was moved with compassion.

Jesus called forth His disciples and said, “I have compassion on these people.”

So Jesus had compassion on him and touched his eyes.

Jesus, moved with compassion, touched him and said “I am willing, be cleansed.”

When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said, “Do not weep.”

When he was a long way off, His Father saw him, had compassion, and ran, fell on his neck and kissed him.

Yes, Jesus does say “Go and do likewise.”  But it is not a guilt-ridden command to follow a law of mercy.  It is a picture of a Person who saw us a long way off; One who goes after those who with sickly bodies and hearts. It is a call to follow a Person.