Abraham Lincoln was once challenged by his supporters about why he reached out to his political opponents and offered them positions in his government. In reply Lincoln said: “When I make friends with my enemies then they are no longer my enemies.” Lincoln’s answer was a simple statement of the obvious. But it required greatness to put the obvious into practice.
If there is one thing we human beings have repeatedly failed to do down through history it is to love our enemies and to forgive those who offend us. As a consequence we have experienced war, after war, after war. There is nothing more futile than war, nothing more destructive, nothing more devastating to the human spirit. Yet we persist in using it as a way of settling disputes, of defeating our enemies and as a means of asserting our power and gaining control.
It is understandable that one of the major concerns of Jesus was the building of community. Jesus offered people a way of living together that would both respect difference and create unity and peace. For Jesus the key to creating community was compassion. “Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:36). This one simple instruction is at the very heart of Jesus’ teaching. Some would even say that it sums up his teaching.
Compassion begins with acceptance, unconditional acceptance of others. Unconditional acceptance means that I accept others no matter what their colour, class, culture, religion and sexual orientation might be. Compassion is also about my willingness to understand the experience of others, to listen to their stories, to hear what they are saying, to learn where they are coming from, to stand in their shoes. In its purest form compassion is about my capacity to enter into the life of another at the level of emotion, where my heart knows the heart of the other.
Compassion is what distinguishes the follower of Jesus; it is the mark of a true Christian. It is the way to end war and conflict and create real community among the peoples of the world. Compassion has its source in God who is compassion itself. It is a gift, a gift that we must pray for, and pray for every day.