Compassion
--'com'=together
-'passion'=feeling
When we see someone making a mistake in how they live their life, It’s so easy to say ‘it’s their choice, I’ll let them make it.” Our society perhaps reinforces this with its doctrine of independence and tolerance. "Live and let live." But the fact is, we suffer through the choices of others. We are not, none of us, completely independent. We deal with this by maneuvering ourselves out of the path of the storm brought on by someone else's poor choices. Frequently, we accept this as the most logical action.
Is it ever the right choice, rather than backing away in self-preservation, to throw our lot in with someone else, and take on the consequence of their foolishness?
What will we do for another?
For a friend, I would join in something crazy. For friendship, I went camping in November when the temp barely hit 60 during the day even though it seemed like a crazy idea. I did so because I valued the friendship more highly than my own comfort, and whether my friends were doing something crazy or not, I wanted to be with them. Yet this is a minor example. Would I face danger for another, when I could just as easily walk away? What if the danger was the direct result of that person's actions, yet had nothing to do with my own?
For a friend, perhaps. For someone who had proved their worth, possibly. For a good cause, hopefully.
What would it say if we did that for a total stranger, treating a stranger as a friend, casting our lot in with theirs to show that we are with them, accepting them as they are despite the mess they carry with them?
In the book A Wind in the Door, by Madeleine L'Engle, there is a scene in which the boy Calvin is trying to prevent a farondala (mythical character) named Sporos from joining the other farondalae in destroying the fara (their parent-creatures), and says (paraphrased) “If you go in, I’m going in with you.” Sporos: “To kill the fara?” Calvin: “No. To be with you.” And that’s what he does. And then when he is sucked in, and another character, Meg, is sucked in, one of their companions, Mr. Jenkins, who has difficulty even believing in the farondalae, comes to pull them back—successfully, but he is ensnared. It is this action that speaks to Sporos and reveals the distinction of good and evil—that Mr. Jenkins would risk himself for Sporos, who he barely knew, and that the Echthroi (the forces of evil trying to lure Sporos) would then try to kill him. A somewhat similar scene is in the movie Hook when Peter Pan's son Jack, attracted to the fatherly affection Captain Hook has shown him, sees Captain Hook kill another boy, Rufio, whom his father then grieves as a son. Jack realizes that his father has indeed risked his life and the lives of others to save him, despite his fickleness, while Hook will kill to keep his power.
We, collectively as humans, have made a mess. A big mess. A mess created by millenia of poor choices, a mess so big that we have little hope of cleaning it up. If another being saw our world, would they care to visit? With corruption in our politics, murder in our streets, and selfishness in our hearts, we have not made this world a pleasant place.
Yet Someone came to visit--Someone who was so perfect that only He was even capable of cleansing us. He refused to sit back and watch us suffer from our mistakes, commenting "oh that's too bad for them" (this is pity), but instead came down, not as a glorified being, which would create a stark and intimidating study in contrasts, but as one of us, taking human flesh, sufferling our fatigue, touching our frailties, contending with our foolishness. Not only so, but He submitted to our mess, brought to face death by the envy and corruption of the leaders, and taking on, taking upon Himself, the full weight of our sin. Jesus cast his lot in with us, knowing that unless he did so, we would perish from our foolishness. It was only the sacrifice of perfection that would make a way for us to turn and be cleansed, able to now approach God with a clear conscious (Eph. 3:12).
What will we do?
We have a dying world around us. It will not be saved by our cool, pitying observance from the comfort of our church sanctuaries. We must not be afraid to be out there, sharing in the pain of this world, risking our health, our safety, and whatever security we've got, to offer salvation. The real sacrifice has been made, by Jesus who was perfect, but He asks us to follow His example, to go, tell, share, sacrifice, and love.
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."--Jesus, Matthew 16:24
Follow in His footsteps. He's shown the way.
--'com'=together
-'passion'=feeling
When we see someone making a mistake in how they live their life, It’s so easy to say ‘it’s their choice, I’ll let them make it.” Our society perhaps reinforces this with its doctrine of independence and tolerance. "Live and let live." But the fact is, we suffer through the choices of others. We are not, none of us, completely independent. We deal with this by maneuvering ourselves out of the path of the storm brought on by someone else's poor choices. Frequently, we accept this as the most logical action.
Is it ever the right choice, rather than backing away in self-preservation, to throw our lot in with someone else, and take on the consequence of their foolishness?
What will we do for another?
For a friend, I would join in something crazy. For friendship, I went camping in November when the temp barely hit 60 during the day even though it seemed like a crazy idea. I did so because I valued the friendship more highly than my own comfort, and whether my friends were doing something crazy or not, I wanted to be with them. Yet this is a minor example. Would I face danger for another, when I could just as easily walk away? What if the danger was the direct result of that person's actions, yet had nothing to do with my own?
For a friend, perhaps. For someone who had proved their worth, possibly. For a good cause, hopefully.
What would it say if we did that for a total stranger, treating a stranger as a friend, casting our lot in with theirs to show that we are with them, accepting them as they are despite the mess they carry with them?
In the book A Wind in the Door, by Madeleine L'Engle, there is a scene in which the boy Calvin is trying to prevent a farondala (mythical character) named Sporos from joining the other farondalae in destroying the fara (their parent-creatures), and says (paraphrased) “If you go in, I’m going in with you.” Sporos: “To kill the fara?” Calvin: “No. To be with you.” And that’s what he does. And then when he is sucked in, and another character, Meg, is sucked in, one of their companions, Mr. Jenkins, who has difficulty even believing in the farondalae, comes to pull them back—successfully, but he is ensnared. It is this action that speaks to Sporos and reveals the distinction of good and evil—that Mr. Jenkins would risk himself for Sporos, who he barely knew, and that the Echthroi (the forces of evil trying to lure Sporos) would then try to kill him. A somewhat similar scene is in the movie Hook when Peter Pan's son Jack, attracted to the fatherly affection Captain Hook has shown him, sees Captain Hook kill another boy, Rufio, whom his father then grieves as a son. Jack realizes that his father has indeed risked his life and the lives of others to save him, despite his fickleness, while Hook will kill to keep his power.
We, collectively as humans, have made a mess. A big mess. A mess created by millenia of poor choices, a mess so big that we have little hope of cleaning it up. If another being saw our world, would they care to visit? With corruption in our politics, murder in our streets, and selfishness in our hearts, we have not made this world a pleasant place.
Yet Someone came to visit--Someone who was so perfect that only He was even capable of cleansing us. He refused to sit back and watch us suffer from our mistakes, commenting "oh that's too bad for them" (this is pity), but instead came down, not as a glorified being, which would create a stark and intimidating study in contrasts, but as one of us, taking human flesh, sufferling our fatigue, touching our frailties, contending with our foolishness. Not only so, but He submitted to our mess, brought to face death by the envy and corruption of the leaders, and taking on, taking upon Himself, the full weight of our sin. Jesus cast his lot in with us, knowing that unless he did so, we would perish from our foolishness. It was only the sacrifice of perfection that would make a way for us to turn and be cleansed, able to now approach God with a clear conscious (Eph. 3:12).
What will we do?
We have a dying world around us. It will not be saved by our cool, pitying observance from the comfort of our church sanctuaries. We must not be afraid to be out there, sharing in the pain of this world, risking our health, our safety, and whatever security we've got, to offer salvation. The real sacrifice has been made, by Jesus who was perfect, but He asks us to follow His example, to go, tell, share, sacrifice, and love.
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."--Jesus, Matthew 16:24
Follow in His footsteps. He's shown the way.
