People are
trouble. People are troubling. People are troubled. If you are like me, each of
these statements elicits a different emotional response.
A series of
books on my shelf have titles like these: Surviving Difficult Church Members,
Getting Along with People Who Don’t Get Along, Coping with Difficult People,
Well-Intentioned Dragons. These have been around for years. Books with similar
titles on the same subject have multiplied exponentially. How do we come to see
people not as problems but as individuals who have problems?
Jesus saw
the crowds as individuals with challenges they could not face alone. They
needed help. Their major problem was their inherent weakness and inability to
deal with all that life was dumping on them. His response was one of
compassion.
Mat
9:35-36 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in
their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every
disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for
them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Every individual was made in the
image of God and thus had an innate value that could not be changed by
circumstances or personal decisions. Every individual was loved by God and had
the potential for a loving relationship with him. When that did not occur, the
Lord was grieved and the individual was the loser.
Jesus put up with all kinds of
people. For some he had compassion. He healed them or he confronted them. In
conversation with the troubled he told them they had a problem which they had
to face and make a decision. He couldn’t make it for them. In all these cases
Jesus still loved the individual and was willing to show that love.
In other cases, however, Jesus
loved the individual, but he did not hesitate to show his anger for their
attitudes. He was angry at Pharisees and synagogue leaders who thought
remembering Sabbath laws was more important than showing compassion. He was
angry with his disciples who placed convenience and order above showing
compassion to children. He was angry at temple rulers who placed making money
above keeping the House of God a House of Prayer.
In the eyes of Jesus these people
were not a problem. They had a problem. They had sold out to the life patterns
and priorities of the world. In doing so they were destroying the opportunity
for God’s love to be revealed in the world through them.
Jesus told a parable we have come
to know as the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10). As the story unfolds, we
see that every individual in the story has a problem/concern. The thieves are
motivated by greed. The victim is motivated by his circumstances. The priest
and Levite are motivated by self-righteousness. The Samaritan is motivated by
mercy and compassion for the victim.
As Jesus concludes the story, he
asks his questioner for his insight.
Luk
10:36-37 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man
who fell among the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him
mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."
As
individuals we will always face people who make life inconvenient for us. They
will impose on us. They will ask for our time, our attention, and lots of other
things. They will irritate us. They will demand our approval of and our
conformity to their ideas.
Jesus
told his followers to be willing to show compassion. Troubled people are as
sheep without a shepherd trying to make it through life under their own power
and in their own wisdom, doomed to failure. They don’t know which way to turn
because they have no guide to point them in the right direction. We must be
willing to show compassion and mercy. What they may deserve is neither of any
consequence nor our primary concern. That is why Jesus rightfully bears the
title, Prince of Peace.
