Read Matthew 15:32
Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”
Yesterday we explored how compassion starts with seeing. Today, we’ll consider what happens after Jesus sees (truly sees, in every sense of the word!) the hurting and needy people he spent so much time with.
Notice in this passage how Jesus’s compassion is connected to the solution. He sees that they are hungry and wants to feed them. This is where Jesus moves from empathy to compassion. Empathy is the ability to understand and experience emotions with another person. Compassion is the desire to do something about their situation. Compassion starts with seeing, and it leads to action.
This is a key lesson in all the stories we are exploring this week. Jesus cares enough to do something about the suffering of those around him. He cares enough about OUR situation to go to the cross, conquer evil, and make a way where there was no way. His invitation to us, then, is to do the same for others. To let our empathy mix with action as we begin to embody Christlike compassion.
This does not mean that we try to solve everyone’s problems. Sure, there are times when action involves meeting the immediate need, like Jesus did in this story. But there are also times when “action” involves simply showing up to sit silently with a grieving friend. Especially when the suffering is emotional, there isn’t always a quick fix, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things we can do.
Today, take some time to think about the difference between empathy and compassion.
Prayer: Lord, you are good and faithful in all things. You model for us what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to extend compassion to those around us. Help us, Lord, to walk in step with you, offering our time and our talents to meet the needs of others.
