Barb shared a story during our Zoom Bible study that left us speechless, some in tears. Her 90-year-old friend was in a nursing home, and the resident’s only child, a son, came to visit her. On his way home, he was hit head-on by another vehicle and died. Barb was called and asked to contact her friend about the fatal accident.
When she arrived at the care facility, her friend asked why she was there since it was so late in the evening. Barb explained that she had bad news to share and that the elderly woman’s son had died on his way home. The woman said nothing but instead rolled over in her bed and faced the wall. Barb had no idea what to say next. She stood in silence.
Within a couple of minutes, the woman rolled back towards Barb and said, “This must have been so hard for you to share this with me.”
Tonight’s Bible lesson was about compassion, an emotion Jesus frequently showed. In the New Testament, the Greek term splagchnizomai describes being deeply moved by another’s plight (Matthew 9:36). Jesus exemplified this through healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and comforting the marginalized (Mark 1:41; Luke 7:13). One theologian said that the word “compassion” is used to describe Jesus’ emotion more than any other word in scripture.
Our group looked at John the Baptist’s beheading and how, immediately after Jesus was told about his cousin’s death, he tried to find a place to be alone. People followed him and begged for him to heal them. Jesus, “moved with compassion,” set aside his grief and met their needs. That’s when Barb told us about her friend, an example of someone grieving who put her feelings aside to care for someone else. This was the first time I have ever seen our group without words.
Who reacts like that? Who isn’t filled with self-pity—at least a little bit—upon hearing such horrendous news? Her only son died after coming to visit her, and here she was in a nursing home. Who would not question why God didn’t take her but took her son instead? When we on the Zoom call finally broke the silence, everyone in our group admitted that they could not imagine being as selfless, as Christ-like, as this lady.
We are called to put others ahead of ourselves, not just when we’re in the mood to do so but every time we are given a chance. We can have a “Honk if You Love Jesus” bumper sticker on our car but not stop for a stranded driver. We can memorize scripture but never read the Bible to someone too ill to read for themselves. We can host lovely dinner parties but never invite the lonely neighbor to join us. It’s just too easy to put ourselves first, isn’t it?
Clergyman J.C. Watts, Jr. said it best: “Compassion can’t be measured in dollars and cents. It does come with a price tag, but that price tag isn’t the amount of money spent. The price tag is love.” I’m sure that Jesus would agree.