Wednesday Wonderisms #02
Internal Organs, Herb-y Aromas & a Response to Suffering
The social security administration is a surprisingly eventful diorama of the human experience. Two rows behind me to the left, an elderly wheelchair-bound lady lambasts her son (himself a senior citizen) with question after question, much to his exhaustion.
A couple in window 5 explains to the clerk how the husband not long ago had open-heart surgery. My brows furrow in his direction.
Hmmm. Man, that’s tough, I think to myself.
An African-American gentlemen in the back rails against his keenly felt injustices from “the Mexicans who run this joint.” (I visibly wince. Yikes.)
The 2nd window is occupied by a lady who needs to change her last name to reflect her recent marriage.
The first man I sit close to nearly coughs out a lung at his window for a full minute, causing eyes in the room to dart back and forth like ping-pong balls. An aroma wafts through the first row as he finds the exit… a dense, herb-y aroma… if you get my drift.
Amidst the currents and droplets of story splashing all around me, I’m struck by a wave. Not of disgust, or amusement, which, if I’m honest, I’ve been guilty of before. No, this is something different. This water brings another sensation, a virtue I personally need to grow in. A wave of compassion.
The word “compassion” comes to us from the Latin words com and pati, together meaning “to suffer with” someone.1 For the Jews, the Hebrew word racham and the idea of compassion or tenderness toward those suffering evoked imagery of things felt deep in the bowels or the womb.2 In ancient Near Eastern thought, the seat of emotions was believed to be the inner organs or abdomen. Basically, when you had true compassion for someone, you experienced a sympathy, a pain in the very center of your self.
Ouch! Yeah. That.
The first time God describes Himself in Scripture, He says He is:
“The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.”
— Exodus 34:6
This is a key aspect of God’s character; a prime indicator of His motives and sensibilities. He makes the choice of feeling what we feel and decides to experience emotional pain when we do. What in incredible thing.
So many people around me, based on the conversational content and very… colorful descriptions, probably don’t know Jesus. Have no clue of the Truth. I’m blessed to have tasted this transcendent reality, to have experienced redemption through faith in Christ. But if I don’t have compassion, is my theology all just noise?3 Schaeffer sternly reminds us that “Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.”4
The truth is, I’ve been ugly too often.
Sitting in this (intensely) uncomfortable steel bench seat, I wonder how Jesus would look at all these people. What He would feel. My 10-year-old-Sunday-school-mind gets a flash from the Gospel of Matthew.
“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.”
— Matthew 9:36
When encountered with the sprawling masses of needy people in the Judean countryside, something deep inside Jesus moved. It twisted and turned within Him; a tightness of the soul; a magnetic pull to the brokenness around Him. Christ had compassion on those so often overlooked, despised, and counted out. He felt it.
The decision Jesus made is the one I need to make: to see those around me through the lens of being imagers of God who have been wronged, wounded, disappointed, dejected, and forgotten by the world.
“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
With this in mind, I hope all of us — myself first — will do as Paul encourages in Colossians 3:12: “put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
Even in a hot, weird waiting room. This is a big part of the “full immersion in the condition of being human”5 and following the lead of our Master in walking alongside the hurting. It’s easy to judge our neighbor at face value, be harsh with people, sardonic in our outlook. But if we pay attention, God will douse us with a fresh realization of the suffering of others and drench our hearts with tenderness toward them.
To reflect on the compassion the Spirit wants to stir in us and our own need for humility, here is a Scripture for meditation as well as a song:
[Scripture]
“But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”
— Romans 14:10
[Song]
[Wednesday Wonderisms is a short devotional reflection I’ll be sharing each midweek morning. Whether it’s sparked by a Scripture, a conversation with a friend, personal musings while raising my three kids or thoughts on the state of the Church, the goal is to encourage you to become an even more ardent worshiper of King Jesus. Hit the link below to share it with a friend.]
compassion | Etymology of compassion by etymonline. (n.d.). Etymonline. https://www.etymonline.com/word/compassion
COMPASSION - JewishEncyclopedia.com. (n.d.). https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4576-compassion
See 1 Corinthians 13:1.
Milton, M. A. (2007). Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus: Expository Messages from John 17. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 16.
Henri J. M. Nouwen, John S. Mogabgab (2012). “A Spirituality of Living: The Henri Nouwen Spirituality Series”, Upper Room Books. p. 32.