5th Sunday after Epiphany
Luke 7:1-17
After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly and who was ill and close to death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me, and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and, turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
Soon afterward [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow, and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with compassion for her and said to her, “Do not cry.” Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stopped. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” This word about him spread throughout the whole of Judea and all the surrounding region.
The Sin of Empathy
The passage I just read is one that I have used quite often; I would say at least a half-dozen times in last three years. I often refer to it in the sermons I give for memorial services, because Jesus is consoling a woman whose son has just passed. But then, Jesus raises her son from the dead, reuniting him with his mother. It’s a miracle, and everyone who was there began to call Jesus a prophet, and word of “him spread throughout the whole of Judea and all the surrounding region.”
It’s a powerful story to share as part of a memorial service. When people are mourning the death of their loved ones, I feel that it’s important for all of us to remember the promises that Jesus made to us, that death’s claim on us is not forever, and that through him, we will have life everlasting, that we will all be together forever, with God. This story of Jesus raising the widow’s son from the dead is a foreshadowing of what’s to come. It’s proof of concept, showing that God is more powerful than death, and that God keeps promises. But, even when we know this to be true, when this is an idea that we’ve grown up with and accepted, it’s so easy to forget in the face of so much pain and sadness. This is why we keep coming back to the same stories over and over again, to remind ourselves of this beautiful relationship that we have with God.
All of these stories about Jesus are tricky, and people have interpreted them in so many different ways over the last two-thousand years. There are even differences between the gospels, significant differences! In the gospel of Luke, when we look at this story of the centurion, there’s this whole section where the elders in the community advocate for him, asking Jesus to heal his slave because he had built a synagogue for them. This advocacy by the elders isn’t mentioned in the gospels of Matthew or John, and this story about the centurion doesn’t appear at all in the gospel of Mark.
Part of what we have to do when we look at these stories, at least if we want to take the Bible seriously and be responsible about it, is to think about why they were written and who they were written for. In the gospel of John, this story is bookended by mentions of the other miracles that Jesus performed, as if the author is trying to convince the reader of who Jesus really is and his significance. In Matthew, there is a threat about who is going to be accepted as part of the community, warning the Jewish Christian audience to behave or be left out. Different authors, different audiences, different messages.
What all of these stories have in common is that they are about Jesus. The details might be different, but who Jesus is and what he stands for remains constant throughout the four gospels. Jesus came into the world to shake things up. His message of “feed the hungry, heal the sick, take care of the orphans and widows,” was not what the Jewish people were expecting from their Messiah. They wanted a warrior king! They wanted someone powerful, who would topple their Roman oppressors so that they could govern themselves. But, that wasn’t the kind of change that Jesus was offering or asking for. He came into the world to promote sharing and kindness. What Jesus offers is radically different from the world that we know, now. Jesus offers true change, not just a ramping up of what we think we already know and understand.
Think about what life would be like if our goal as a society was to take care of every person, instead of accumulating wealth. What if the American Dream was making sure that everyone around you had enough, instead of the dream being a white picket fence, a two-story house, 2.5 children, and a dog. There are too many people in the world whose primary focus is greed and consumerism, two things that are not sustainable in a world of finite resources. If year over year success is measured by how much more money a company makes, at some point, there will be no more money to be had. There will be nothing left, no more oil or coal, no more trees, no more fresh water or fish in the sea. The world can only give so much. How do we turn this around and bring about a new world of love, mercy, and grace?
With all of the turmoil in our country right now, people are posting all kind of things online. I saw something incredibly disheartening the other day: someone warning people to not be lured in by the “sin of empathy.” The sin of empathy! What in the world has happened to our country that people are now calling empathy a sin? Why are people getting so angry when a preacher calls for mercy, and compassion, and kindness? People are demanding that she apologize, and she’s being called a radical extremist! Asking for mercy and compassion is apparently as bad as being a terrorist, now.
I looked in to this “sin of empathy” thing, because I thought it was just one person making a wild statement, and I wanted to know more about who it was and if there was any kind of context that could help me understand why they said it. But, it turns out, that it’s an entire movement that’s been going on for years! The book Toxic Empathy was published last year, with the subtitle “How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion.” You all remember that part of the Bible when Jesus tells us to be careful lest we become too compassionate, right? Yeah, I don’t remember that part either. People are arguing that empathy blinds us to the truth, that we should consider some people evil, and that morality isn’t connected to goodness, only divine law. Never mind that there is no consensus on what divine law is.
I could feel a knot tightening in my stomach as I read about this; I almost felt like I was going to start crying. There were quotes from people recommending the book, like “Toxic Empathy exposes how unsuspecting Christians play into Satan’s plot to pit compassion against the truth.” I’m just going to say it. This is disgusting. It is absolutely disgusting. I don’t understand how you can read the Bible, read about Jesus’ life and read about the things that he said and did and come to this conclusion. When empathy becomes a sin, you have permission to not care about the people around you. You don’t need to think about how your actions might hurt other people or the damage you might cause to their lives. When your only guide is “divine law” that you get to interpret for yourself, you pretty much give yourself permission to do whatever you want. It’s no wonder that the things happening right now are happening.
The story about Jesus and the centurion is a story about empathy. It begins with the Jewish elders telling Jesus that the centurion had built the synagogue for them. Building the synagogue was a neighborly act, a gesture to show that they were all part of the same community and that they should help each other. The elders were neighborly in turn, asking Jesus to help him. The centurion then has his servants tell Jesus that as a man with authority, he understands the authority that Jesus has. He understands what it’s like to be in Jesus’ shoes, the very definition of empathy. And, this expression of empathy helps Jesus to understand the faith that this man must have, because Jesus puts himself into the centurion’s shoes, looks at what is happening through his eyes, looks at himself through the eyes of the centurion, and understands the faith that this man has. And, in empathy and compassion, Jesus heals his servant.
When people are hurting, when people are sad or angry, it’s empathy that helps us to understand their pain. If someone is suffering in a way that we can’t understand, that doesn’t mean that we can’t empathize with them. We can be human to each other and do our best to understand where the other person is coming from and do what we can to mitigate their suffering. Empathy is what prevents us from hurting each other or taking advantage of each other. Empathy is one of the most important resources we have when we interact with a person in distress, especially someone who has lost a loved one.
Disagreements will always exist among different groups of people, but no matter how much we disagree, we have to love them, right? Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, and to love our enemies. It’s the only way things will ever change. It’s like Martin Luther King said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” We need empathy so that we can put ourselves in the shoes of another and try to see where they’re coming from. The Bible, with its multitude of voices from so many different periods of time, teaches us the importance of empathy. Not all people believe the same thing or understand God in the same way, and that’s okay. If all of these different viewpoints can exist together in the Bible, then we can live with each other that way, too. So, with all of the upheaval happening around us, stay strong. Trust in your God-given gifts of empathy and kindness, and remember that God is love, and love is all that God ever asks of us. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
