Moved with Compassion

“My heart is moved with pity..." Mt. 9:36

We are all made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27), and I do believe that we have some of His character. After all, we are "created to be like God, truly righteous and holy." (Ephesians 4:24). We can see this instinctual compassion in a child who cries in empathy when her playmate is hurt, or who takes pity on a wounded kitten. My sister’s grandchild cried when he saw my husband’s hair being cut! 

As we grow older, we try to protect ourselves from pain and distress and get immune to the faces of need we see around us. It takes a lot for me to give money to a beggar

because I think of syndicates, and I remind myself that giving money just encourages begging, or allows street children to buy rugby to sniff. I much prefer buying them food but it is not always convenient to stop what I am doing to do so. 

 In Matthew 15:32, Jesus is confronted with a great crowd who had been following him for three days. He said, "They have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way." A practical concern. How about me? Do I naturally feel compassion for the woman and child sleeping on rags and filthy cardboard on the sidewalk? Do I want to do something for the man languishing in jail for a crime he did not commit? How about a street child in danger of being preyed upon by unscrupulous men?

 Even if I do not feel "moved to pity" like Jesus, if I want to be like Him, I can start with a small action of mercy. Just like being happy starts with smiling. Charles Darwin said , "The free expression by outward signs of an emotion intensifies it." And William James notes that if someone does not express an emotion, then he has not felt that emotion at all. And Shakespeare famously said that giving mercy blesses the one who gives it and the one who receives it. 

God is rich in mercy (Eph. 2:4), and if we want to be the same as our Father, we don't have to wait till we feel compassion, we can just DO IT! Mercy is as mercy does! Jesus wants us to see one another through the eyes of compassion He has for us.