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COMPASSION GOES BEYOND THE LAWS

SCRIPTURE READINGS: ROM 9:1-5; LK 14:1-6

It is said that we apply justice to strangers but compassion to our loved ones. For those whom we love, we will be very lenient with them. Some of us would even find excuses for them to mitigate their mistakes. For those whom we do not know, we are very hard with them when they do wrong. This was the situation with the Pharisees. They interpreted everything in a legalistic way. Consequently, it was obvious to them that according to the Law, there should be no work and therefore no healing on the Sabbath. Yes, what the Pharisees lacked is the compassion and love of God. The only justice they knew is the justice of man, but not the justice of God.

Jesus, however, looked at the problem very differently. What was most important for Jesus was that the man before Him was suffering. He needed help as quickly as possible. If we truly loved someone in pain, we would not want to prolong his or her sufferings unnecessarily. We would try to relieve his/her pain as quickly as possible. We would not say that we will come back tomorrow to ease the pain of the person when we can do it today. Hence, if we really loved someone, we would do anything to help, even if it meant going beyond the laws.

Such was the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Jesus exposed their pretense by posing to them a situation in which they had a son or an ox that had fallen into a pit. Would they break the Sabbath law to rescue them? The answer is obvious and revealing. If the object of their love was in difficulty, they would have forgotten about the laws and instinctively gone to the rescue. But if that someone were not related to them, they would have acted harshly and unfeelingly. This shows that the Pharisees were not really serious in upholding the Sabbath law. What they were lacking was simply a heart of compassion, a heart that feels with others.

Jesus shows us what genuine compassion is all about. For Him, what was all important was that the man needed help. And so Jesus healed the man even when others were watching Him disapprovingly. For the sake of the man, Jesus took the risk of offending the legalistic Pharisees. But Jesus would not be cowed into holding back from doing that which was right, simply because some people were not happy with His compassionate love towards the man suffering from dropsy. The truth is that Jesus valued people more than the laws, more than His popularity. When it came to doing good, there was no postponement for Jesus.

This same compassion was also present in the life of St Paul. In the first reading, he wrote of his love and compassion for his fellow kinsmen. He felt sad for them that they still did not come to know Christ. So intense was his love for them that he would even be separated from Christ for the sake of them. Yes, Paul felt very much for them because they seemed to have everything except Christ. They were the specially chosen people of God, they were given the glory, the covenants, the laws, the worship, the promises – everything – but they did not realize that Christ was the promise and the fulfillment of the hope of their forefathers.

How then can one cultivate the compassion of Jesus and St Paul? What was the secret of their compassion for others? Simply this: both of them understood themselves. They understood the meaning of suffering and the meaning of pain. They too had suffered in their own ways. Compassion for others requires that we begin with ourselves. We are no different from others. If we need love, understanding and forgiveness, so do others. That is why Jesus told us in His Sermon on the Mount that we must do to others what we would like others to do unto us.

Secondly, we must, like Paul and Jesus, recognize every fellow human being as our brother, sister and our kinsmen. Unless we see others as our relatives and loved ones, we will tend to be harsh and unfeeling towards them. But if we see that they are truly our brothers and sisters of the same Lord and of the same Father whom we worship, then we would not treat them as strangers. Only when we have this perspective towards them can we then exercise the compassion of God. If not we would only exercise the attitude of a human judge who applies strict justice to everyone without human compassion and feelings.

Thirdly, we must understand that the judgment of God is just and yet merciful. The justice of God is never exercised apart from love. Even when God is just, He is at the same time merciful. His exercise of justice is based on the principle of love. Concretely, this means that God would take everything into consideration in making judgment on us; our life history, our intentions, the circumstances. When God judges therefore, He is not simply taking an action by itself without relating to the whole life of the doer. That is why God’s justice is also His love as well. God’s justice takes into account the whole person, his past and present circumstances.

Let us today imitate Paul and Jesus in their compassion for others. We must always put people before the laws. As Jesus told us in another passage of the gospel, the Sabbath is made for man; not man for the Sabbath. Laws are simply meant to help us to regulate our lives in a harmonious way with God and our fellow human beings. They are meant to give life not to destroy or inhibit life. Laws must therefore never be applied without taking into consideration the special circumstances of each person. The fundamental principle enunciated by Jesus is that obedience to the laws must give life.

Hence, we must be careful not to postpone a good deed which can be done today. To do so is already killing a good deed. How often in our daily life have we been prompted to do something good by the Holy Spirit, such as writing a letter to affirm someone, or a thank you card, or visit someone in hospital, but because we procrastinated, we ended up not doing it at all. Postponement is truly the work of the evil spirit whereas an inspiration to do good is the work of the Holy Spirit. Let us, as the hymn says, “give a helping hand while we can because we might never pass this way again”.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh