Reflections - Compassion Costs

Compassion Costs

…indifference costs more!

In the Jewish scheme of things, the knowledge of Mosaic Law held the pride of place and gave people their position in society. It demanded great memory power and intelligence to remember and interpret the law. Those lacking such abilities took second place and virtually had no say in the matter. 

Sad, as it may sound, this seemed to suit the people of the time. They did not have the burden of the responsibility to decide between right and wrong as long as they stayed on the right side of the law. They did not have to think. They could go about their daily life while someone else took care of the law and order situation. Occasionally, if innocent blood was shed that was the problem of those who delivered the judgment and the innocent victim. There was total abdication of the dictates of the heart. 

Into this milieu, stepped Jesus with a very alien concept for the times…compassion. 

A disturbing concept because it demanded, very ironically, that each case be "thought through" and judged on merit, instead of blind application of the law. A precept best exemplified by the story of the woman caught in adultery. "Let the one without sin cast the first stone"...an admonishment so revolutionary for the times, as people had got so used to the barbaric sport of stoning people to death. 

Logic is linear. It is straight line. However, compassion demands the use of many more faculties and resources of our brain. It is more time and energy consuming. It is lot more stressful. It requires the application of just not the mind…but the heart, body, mind and soul. 

Scientists have found evidence (through brain scans of people observing another) that compassionate people understand emotions by imitating the mannerisms of others who are undergoing some form of pain. Past studies have suggested that empathic individuals tend to unconsciously mimic mannerisms and facial expressions more than those who are non-empathic. 

We have evidence of this on Cavalry where the three Marys’ empathized with Jesus' passion prompting Jesus to say, "Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children." For days of destruction were coming, He told them, when the barren would be considered blessed (a prophesy of the destruction of Jerusalem which happened some 40 years later, in 70 A.D.) (Lk. 23:27-31). 

It is in our nature to want, demand and get what we want. It begins when we are children. ‘A squeaky wheel gets the crease’. A crying child gets the milk. Which is good when you are an infant. But, to get a candy or a toy if you should continue to cry, it is not the same thing. May end up getting a whack or a dagger-like star or unceremoniously wheeled out of the store.

Of course, children outgrow this tendency, but not all. We are naturally protective of what we have – our wealth, our property, our lifestyle – sometime to the extent of depriving our near and dear ones, like our aged parents or siblings, of some of the privileges. The concept of "MINE" is highly dominant in our makeup. In such a state, we deliberately shun empathy. We turn our eyes away from the poor. We react violently should they touch us. In any case, that is my reaction. I am not able to do much about it.

To be empathetic requires a special grace. A grace that comes from only one person, who personified it at the price of His own life.  

"For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). 

The psalmist tells us in 84:11 to whom is such grace given:

"For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

The Lord will give grace and glory;

No good thing will He withhold

From those who walk uprightly

We must walk "uprightly", not with the stiff upper lip of the Pharisees and Sadducees, but with "humility" for we know that "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble"  (Prov. 3:34). 

It is important that we have long hands that can be reached by those who have fallen. Hands, that are soft to the touch; not calloused from throwing stones, metaphorically speaking.  

Paul tells the church in Romans 11:6-7 that "Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect (7000 who did not bow down to Baal) have obtained it, and the rest were hardened." 

It is equally a warning to us. Baal, in today's time, could well be our comfort zones, our ambitions, and our lack of time for those in need. Would the passage from Is 29:10 equally apply to us as it did to the Israelites?  

"God has given them a spirit of stupor,

Eyes that they should not see

And ears that they should not hear,

To this very day."

We are desperately in need of grace today more than ever with our fast-paced life. We are inexorably receding into the system of indifference with no place for "compassion" except for our own near and dear ones, which itself is sometimes questionable. Unfortunately for us, there is no "lamb" to be slain again for our redemption. 

"Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Gen.6:8) and was saved from the Great Floods. If we have been indifferent to the needs of others, we need to change. We need to be counted as righteous, as Noah was counted as righteous, to avoid the consequences as Noah's generation did.