A Christ-Like Compassion
When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:36).
This passage always stirs heavy emotion in me – emotions of awe, inadequacy, and sometimes even fear. Awe, considering the compassion that Jesus was always able to show. Inadequacy, knowing I am not living up to this standard. Fear, knowing how hard my heart often is to the weary and worn world around me.
In addition to these feelings, it has also led me to wonder what the differences are between compassion, sympathy, and empathy. Sympathy is defined as “feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune.” Empathy is defined as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” And finally, compassion has been defined as “to suffer together.” The Greek word used for compassion in Matthew 9 meant to “pity them from his inmost bowels.” This may sound strange, but the bowels were considered the seat of love and pity, so it would be similar to our usage of the word heart to represent love and emotion.
The definitions of these words seem to build on each other: sympathy is merely a feeling of pity or sorrow for someone. Empathy takes the feelings another step, where we try to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. Finally, compassion urges us to share in someone else’s suffering.
I love to read, which is probably apparent in my articles, and I have seen research that discusses how reading fiction in particular has been shown to increase empathy. In fact, works of fiction have often been associated with major social changes. Researchers believe this is because it is hard to build these emotional triggers without the ability to see the world through someone else’s eyes. Stories can put us in someone’s viewpoint to help us see their suffering from their perspective. However, Jesus was just able to look at another and know their story and step into their suffering.
The second part of Matthew 9:36 is a quote where Jesus is telling His disciples that the harvest is large, but the laborers are few. I live in Kansas, which is known as the breadbasket of the nation. I have passed MANY wheat fields (or corn, or soybeans, or milo). In fact, I live in a place where I can regularly walk through a field that is planted in the summertime. I have often looked at the crop and thought about how much work the harvest would be without our modern machinery. All of Jesus’ disciples would have understood this well, living in an agrarian society.
I have often heard this passage taught in relation to the topic of evangelism, and to be clear, that is what Jesus was most concerned about – the spiritual state of each person He met. However, He also healed, touched, and fed. Jesus was an example to us of how to step into a person’s physical suffering with the long-term goal of helping with their spiritual suffering.
There are now almost 8 billion people in the world. As of 2023, only about 1/3 of that number claim to be Christian. The harvest is indeed very large.
We may be tempted to feel overwhelmed to the point of wondering how to even begin such a harvest; however, Jesus left us an example for this as well. He understood the power of multiplication. The 12 men that He spent the most time with were then able to share the gospel with those around them. It is by living in compassion in our small part of the world that we can help influence a number of people, who can then influence others. We all have a role to play, and not all of us are called to be a Paul who can travel and influence widely. We must also step into others’ suffering to let them know we care about them. By “walking in their shoes,” we can be true disciples to Jesus by acting as He would act in order to make a connection to point others to the one who will truly help – God.
If I am honest, I so often get caught up in my own worldly concerns and cares that I don’t look up to even notice the harvest. I fail to even have the feelings, let alone share in them or feel them from the depths of my heart. I view my own trials as the most difficult, or at least the most pressing, and I don’t recognize that I am often focused on the wrong problems in my own life – the worldly problems, not the spiritual ones. I turn from following Jesus to discipling at the feet of others. This leads to no compassion and no harvesting. I can, after all, be altruistic for all the wrong reasons.
The cure is for me to turn back to a story to build my empathy. The most powerful story of them all - and it isn’t fiction. It is the story of God who became a frail baby and lived life as a human in order to see His creations' problems from their perspective. The story of the same God who fed, healed, loved, and taught those around Him with the goal of living with them forever. The story of a God who died for ME. THAT story is one that makes me want to follow in His footsteps and live a little more like Him each day. THAT story motivates and pushes me to see others as He saw them. My prayer is that as my walk grows closer to Jesus, I will reflect His compassion in my life more every day. My prayer is the same for you as well.
