When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
- Matthew 9:36
The other day, something upset my daughter Katherine. I don’t remember if she’d hurt herself, if somebody had made her mad, or if she’d just been told she needed to do her chores—but whatever the case, she had collapsed into a heap on the floor, sobbing.
What made me remember that moment was what happened next. As she wailed, our son Isaac, not yet 2 years old, curiously walked up to her. Even as she screamed, he cupped her face in his hands—the same way he does to me and his mom when he wants us to pay attention to him—and quietly questioned, “Hi, KaKa?”
There’s a reason why that little moment has been rolling around my brain all week—as adults, we almost never do that. When we see a stranger in need, it makes us uncomfortable and we look away. When a loved one is struggling, we silently wonder how long it will take for things to go back to normal. Our immediate reaction is not to enter into someone else’s suffering, but to flee from it.
Jesus never ran away from people in need, he ran toward them. Whether to heal, to teach, or simply to console, Jesus’ instinct was to reach out to the suffering, to put their face in his hands. Because he knew—and he was teaching us—that love is not just something you feel, but something you demonstrate.
Christlike compassion requires more than good intentions, it requires stepping outside your comfort zone. It means showing people, not just telling them, about the love of Jesus. May you not respond to tears by turning away, but by stepping up.