Global Compassion

Good People

“Oddly enough, we generally do not judge economic or political systems on the basis of compassion withheld or inspired—although perhaps we should. We do judge religion this way, because religion insists that compassion is the whole purpose of any sort of spirituality or morality or ethics. When religion fails at compassion, it fails at its own test. To neglect loving your neighbor—to lack compassion—that is the problem underlying all other human problems.”
Diana Butler Bass (Grounded, p. 259)

When Jesus was asked by an expert in the law “What is written in the law?” he responded as he usually did—with a question of his own. “How do you read it?” The legal expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus told the man that he had answered correctly, “Do this and you will live.” But the expert, who was testing Jesus, followed up by asking, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus then told the story of the good Samaritan. (Luke 10:25-37)

We are still trying to wrap our heads around the answer to that question—who is my neighbor? Is it just the people I love, the people who surround me every day, my tribe? Especially now that we live in a global village, what does it mean? Diana Butler Bass asks, “Is global compassion possible?” We humans, Christian or not, have done a mediocre job overall of embracing the parable of the good Samaritan, who was merciful to a complete stranger out of simple compassion. Jesus tells us, as he told the legal expert, “Go and do likewise.”

This is not to say the church, and other religious institutions, have done nothing. Countless individuals are fed, clothed and sheltered around the world. Prisoners are visited, children are taught, and the brokenhearted are comforted by religious people of all persuasions every day. But we do seem to want to pick and choose who we consider to be our neighbors—and “not-neighbors” are sometimes treated harshly. If only people who look like us, or only those whom we deem deserving, or who show gratitude are considered to be neighbors, we might be missing the point. And, it's not a matter of we, who are privileged, handing out goodies to the less fortunate; rather, it is inclusion and mutual positive regard for other human beings as equal to ourselves, and equally deserving of goodness in their lives. That's the hard part, isn't it?

Compassion is a global concept—it's big. Jesus taught that it is second only to devotion to our creator. Jesus did not pick and choose. He did not arm himself against the “not-neighbor.” He did not suggest we build impenetrable walls, or block refugees and asylum seekers, or jail the “alien.” Do we want a compassionate world? Then we must “go and do likewise” to the best of our ability.

In the Spirit,
Jane