ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 25, 2023
Have you ever heard someone say to another person, “Hey! Show some compassion!” It is typically used when someone is oblivious, or worse, indifferent, to the suffering of another. Yet, can something like compassion be demanded? In Matthew 9:36, we read how Jesus saw the crowds and had compassion for them. The Greek word we translate as compassion is one of my favorite Greek words. It is: splagchnizomai. To be moved in your entrails is a simple translation. It sort of sounds like something that occurs when you’ve eaten a bad oyster, but in a rather literal and earthy way, it describes the ache we feel when we see pain, suffering, injustice, loneliness, or hopelessness. It is a sort of gut punch that doesn’t subside until something is done. That is not an emotion that can be demanded. It is rooted in the knowledge that all life is interconnected, and what impacts one person or creature negatively impacts me in a similar way. I feel it in my entrails, not because someone has told me to feel it that way, but we hurt for one another because we have acknowledged this deep connection we have—through God—with all living things.
Create within me, O God, the capacity for true compassion. Amen.
