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The Compassion of The Christ
Brian Mashburn
June 25, 2006
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The Compassion of The Christ
I think I run from the overwhelming pain and suffering of others because I can't do enough to relieve it. I ration my compassion for people, because if I feel compassion all of the time...well, I would feel compassion all of the time. And as my friend says, "Compassion hurts." This is why I only brush up alongside my fellow man's pain and suffering and just offer a small or brief donation of my time, attention, or money, rather than attach myself fully to it. It seems so masochistic and hopeless to do anything else.
So how and why did Jesus do it? How did he attach himself to the overwhelming suffering and pain of others and survive it (and actually enjoy it)? Some people say it is because he pulled out the "God Card". In other words, they explain that "well, Jesus was God, and God had the power to handle it."
If that is right, then how dare Jesus ask us to have the same kind of compassion when the same kind of power isn't available to us? How cruel he is to tell us that our lives are to be imitations of his, if he was only capable of doing it because "he was God"?
Nope. I think Jesus believed some things that had a real impact on his real living that enabled him to really do it, and that what he had is available to us. Jesus had...
1) A Theology of Enough. I think Jesus just knew that His Father didn't create more humans on earth than the earth had resources for. It's just that a few had more than enough.
2) A Clear Understanding of Death. I think Jesus also knew that death isn't something to be feared. That most people tiptoe carefully and cautiously through life only to arrive at death having never really lived.
And as a natural result of those two, Jesus had 3) A Gospel Stewardship. Not an American one that makes sense to us in our nation, but a Gospel one that makes sense in His Kingdom.
How else could Jesus say the things he said? Teach the things he taught? Require the things he required? And live the way he lived?