Our Faith Formation class at Calvary used to study a book every winter, and the one we used about 10 years ago was “Christless Christianity” by Michael Horton, published in 2012. It is absolutely worth your time and delves into the growing trend of a form of Christianity that is callous, unkind, and harsh. I was reminded of the book this past year as I saw increasing statements from self-described “Christians” against empathy. This move away from the teachings of Jesus is nothing new, but it seems to be growing in popularity. Just look up the number of pastors who have been accused of, and fired for, preaching socialism – all they were doing was quoting Jesus.
The idea that humans struggle with empathy is not a new one; it has always been a struggle for some people to feel with others when difficult times arise. To care about the plight of people who are different than we are or are who we believe “deserve” or have caused their problems, isn’t always easy. There are some people who, objectively, are to blame for their troubles. Even if we accept that as true, most people I see who are having troubles should have our empathy. And for Christians who claim to worship Jesus – the paradigm of empathy – to cast it as inappropriate only proves that they have never actually read, or taken seriously, the words attributed to Him. I have seen this lack of empathy in full view for the last two years in the wake of what has been happening in Gaza and Israel. To ignore the reason Israel went to war because of the horrific terrorist act by Hamas is to, essentially, blame the victims. To not be moved by the massive death toll of Palestinian children, also caused by Hamas’s terrorism, is to also lack empathy.
It is the rare person who is able to live a religious life that is only about peace and tranquility. The vast majority of us make concessions because we live here and can’t form the world into what we want it to be. To disrespect empathy, however, is to deny God. To blame the victims, rather than the perpetrators, is to side with evil. I don’t think I can be any clearer than this: Jesus lived an empathetic life – He even changed some of His own religion’s rules to be more empathetic towards people who had been damaged by those rules. If your faith rejects empathy, then your faith rejects God and embraces and rejoices in pain and suffering. You can’t be a person of faith in any religion that includes the Holy without empathy. Period.
Prayer – Holy God, we believe that You care about what happens to us and that You want good for us. Teach us to do the same for others. Amen.
Today’s art is “Just a Little Dose of Compassion” by Fabio Napoleoni.