In Matthew’s Gospel there is the story of the feeding of
the 5,000. It begins with a statement about what motivates Jesus. It says in
Matthew 14:14 that when Jesus saw the crowd, “he had compassion for them…” He
cured their sick and he feed them simply because he had compassion for them.
The word that is translated as compassion literally
means, being moved in the belly. Some scholars think that its literal meaning
goes even deeper, that it means, being moved in the bowel. Compassion works in
two ways. First, it grows from a place deep within us that knows, as if from a
sixth sense what someone else feels (in this case, what it feels like to be
sick and hungry). Secondly, it requires action, a decision of the will, to do
what is right (in this case, to heal the sick and feed the hungry).
It is easy to get the feeling that everything Jesus does
is motivated by his compassion, by his ability to feel for the people he meets
and to choose to act to change the situation causing pain. Perhaps, Jesus going
to Jerusalem was not a marching towards his own death and much as he was
motivated by his compassion to go to that place that represented the deepest
pain of the people.
This month, on January 17, 24 and 31 we will focus on the
Charter for Compassion, an international movement to bring the idea of
compassion into every aspect of human experience. At the core of every major religion
and philosophical school of thought is some version of the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you. Let’s make this rule the central motivator for every decision
humans make – personally or corporately.
4 comments:
Years ago I read somewhere that although the general sentiment of the Golden Rule shows up in virtually every culture, that sometimes it is active, as in the Christian "Do unto others . . .", and in others it is passive, e.g., "Do not unto others . . .". To me this is a subtle but significant difference. I think it warrants unpacking.
Thanks Tom for the observation… I used to think of the two versions of the Golden Rule (Do unto others and Do not do unto others) as the same thing. But, the first one has to do with committing acts of kindness and the second has to do with not doing unkind things. If the second is passive, it is only so in the most active way possible… it takes courage and strength not to strike back, for example.
I agree about courage to not do certain things.
I've always understood "Word" as found in John's Gospel ["In the beginning was the Word . . ."] as being a verb, not a noun. And I further parsed that as an active verb. So in my Christian walk I have always felt called to actions, to be present in each moment to what the Spirit points out needs doing. If I took the passive verb path I could conceivably just curl up in a hidey-hole like a cat and let the world go by. To me, "It's About The World" is a call to the active verb Word, to actively/proactively love.
But this is not an either/or situation; both/and can work here.
I agree Tom - I think the point Armstrong makes is that they aren't the same thing, but that both are necessary.
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