Compassion
ust off the highway, headed to the Akron Food Bank, sits the same hard-living African American gentleman who waves at nearly every passing vehicle. I still can’t shake the ironic discomfort of passing him while on my way to put-in a few hours of service at the Food Bank. Stopped by the red-light, I’m well intended as I hand him the few dollars worth of coins I can scrounge-up from my cup holder. The awkwardness of passing him again on my way home is even worse. This time, my feelings are laced with the attitude of “I’ve done my charitable work for the day.” I speed past him with a smile that fades the second I begin looking to my next task for the day.
The irony of passing him while going to serve in a food-sorting warehouse, illustrates two necessary realities. First, that compassion is behavioral, it’s not a feeling. It’s not a question of having pity for those who suffer, but what actions are being done to uplift and accompany the suffering. To be pointed, passing out spare change to the homeless doesn’t begin to scratch the service of what God is calling us to do. Although I love the important work of the Akron Food Bank, stuffing a hundred boxes of nearly rotted potatoes is not actually solving my empathy problem. To know compassion, is to be in relationship with the suffering.
Christ’s challenge to us is to love our neighbors as ourselves. How often do we check off that box with the sentiment of “I don’t hate anyone, so I’m good there?” Ah, but implicate in the challenge is knowing your neighbor to begin with. Neighbors not in proximity, but in race, economic status, and nationality. Loving our neighbor is what makes us decent people, but doing something about it, reveals that we are Christian.
The second reality I learned at that difficult exit is, the wealthiest country on earth still has a heartbreaking poverty rate. One out of five children live in a household that struggles to put food on the table, one in three children a part of black or brown families (www.bread.org). Believe it or not, there still is a shocking amount of opposition to fund anti-hunger programs. I believe, it is no longer a viable excuse to say that problems like poverty and racism are too complex to solve. It’s been said “Jesus could magically give the homeless bread and fish to eat, I can’t do that.” I’ve also heard, “those people are dangerous.” Not only is our fear wildly unwarranted, but it’s still not an adequate excuse for allowing poverty to exist. Why? Because Jesus was killed for disrupting the societal norms that perpetuated injustice. If Christ’s priority was safety, we wouldn’t have the Gospel. The biggest mistake that Christians often make is believing that Jesus was innocent. For shattering oppressive customs, for tearing down unfair structures, for threatening social hierarchies, he was guilty. For those reasons, we imprisoned him and crucified him on a cross.
If we are Christ’s Church, then the bigger the sinner, or the more suffering one endures, the warmer our welcome ought to be. Our call to fight for the poor, to eradicate poverty and racism will not happen overnight, but through the contagiousness of compassion, we most certainly can create a system that’s fair and a world built on love. If not the Church, then who? Friends, the time has come to put legs on our prayers.
While some lament the decline of the Church, I remain exuberant about discovering the Church’s participation in the revolution that is taking place all around us. Christianity, following the example of Jesus, will no longer stand for advancing the status quo. Our prophetic message to the powers and principalities, that Jesus stands with the poor and marginalized, is the Gospel that will allow the Church to withstand the test of time. We can make a difference! With God in our corner, what can’t we accomplish? With authentic compassion, we can create a better world of justice and equality for all people. It begins with you, it begins with me, it begins with each and every one of us.
With triumph,
Pr. Lucas McSurley
