P ♰ C

-by Jean Allen

The compassion of Jesus is indescribable. He had just had news of John’s death and he was grieving deeply. He needed to go and be alone for a while. He needed to speak to his Father. But the crowds, unaware of his grief and need, followed him in huge numbers because they had their own grief and needs. Jesus didn’t turn around and yell, “Can’t you people just leave me alone for a while?” He didn’t avoid, run or hide. He saw the crowds and he had compassion. He put their needs ahead of his own.

When you go to pray to Jesus, try to bring the above scenario to mind. You are not praying to a God who puts his needs ahead of yours. He doesn’t need you to be perfect; he doesn’t need you to be right, whether it’s having the right words or the right theology or the right actions. He doesn’t need you to be clean and holy. The crowds that Jesus saw before him were a motley crew and they had none of the ‘right’ ways of approaching him. All they had was hope and desire.

Jesus cannot resist the poverty of people who only have hope and desire to offer. He couldn’t resist it then and he can’t resist it now. Our problem is that we keep feeling that our poverty isn’t enough for Jesus. We can’t believe he doesn’t have heavy parameters and requirements; we can’t believe we’re ‘good enough’, especially not as we are in any given moment.

In other words, we can’t believe the Good News. The good news is that compassion is freely given and given lavishly with love; it’s not earned. All the things we do for God should be done out of gratitude for what we have received, not to try to earn anything. This is a God who hangs with us no matter who we are or how we have acted. He doesn’t drift away to find someone else more holy to hang out with. Those who think of themselves as holy enough don’t need God.

They’ve got themselves to hang out with.

image: “Christ Healing the Blind Man”, painted by Sabastiano Ricci (1659-1734), retrieved from https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/christ-healing-the-blind-man-210612. Image credit: National Galleries of Scotland.