If you look up the word "compassion" in the dictionary you'll most likely see a definition that looks something like this:a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. In other words, when we think of compassion we think about feeling sorry for someone's circumstance and try to find a way to help better that circumstance.
We've allowed the meaning of compassion to sway far away from its origins.
Compassion comes from the combination of two words. Com is the word for with. Passion comes from the root word pasio which means to suffer. Compassion, therefore, is to suffer with. It does not mean to feel sorry for and to make something better because of that sense of remorse. Compassion is the human response to be a presence in the midst of suffering while doing our best to understand the suffering we make the decision to share in.
Jesus lived compassionately.We are reminded in this passage from Hebrews that "we don’t have a high priest who can’t sympathize with our weaknesses but instead one who was tempted in every way that we are, except without sin." We don't have a Christ who feels bad for us, but who lived as we do, in every way. Jesus was born into poverty, grew up without a father, lived his last few years houseless, was despised and plotted against by those in power, turned against by his friends, when it really mattered was left alone to fend for himself in a trial for his life, and in the end he died a brutal and painful death.
Through it all Jesus never stopped loving. Through it all he never broke from the relationships between God, others, or himself. Through it all Jesus continued to live a life filled with compassion which in itself transformed lives. Jesus didn't force those transformations onto anyone by declaring he was here to be their savior, nor did he command anyone to believe that it was through him and because of him that all sins will be forgiven. Jesus did not say to the social outcasts, those considered unclean and sinners, you must change your lives and conform to one truth, but instead encouraged everyone, everyone, to share in the love of truth in oneness.
Jesus' message until death was this: through one love show love to all and in love unify all into one love. As Christians we are Easter people and as such we believe in resurrection. More to the point we believe that resurrection is renewal of life. As such we need to find a way to stop waiting for the second coming of Christ and realize that Christ is still here, always has and always will be. As such, and to be faithful to our Easter tradition, celebrate life, celebrate love, and on this Good Friday, celebrate compassion.
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