I was thinking about something last night. There was a time when you could tell someone, “I am not feeling well. I’ve been running a fever and have a bad cough,” the person would respond with something like, “Oh I’m so sorry! Can I do anything for you?” Today the response can be vastly different. Responses now can be far more opinionated and far less caring. An ill person may say, “I tested positive for Covid,” and get a response driven by politics instead of empathy.
This sadly happens in the arena of humanity. “My friend is not doing well. He’s lost a lot of weight, doesn’t sleep much, and I’m afraid he may lose his life,”
“Oh how terrible! Any idea what is going on with him?”
“He got into drugs. He’s an addict.”
“Well he made that choice himself. Cause and effect.”
We tend to show compassion to those who we think deserve it, or they follow our unsaid set of rules for living, but this was not how Christ lived.
We read in the 4th chapter of John’s gospel that he interacted with a Samaritan woman in a way that demonstrated truth and mercy. Jewish men of that day had plenty of reasons to stay away from her. Her own town probably had even shunned her. Christ showed her the truth of who she was and yet had compassion.
In John chapter 8 Jesus shows mercy to the woman caught in the act of adultery. He also gives her instruction to leave her life of sin. Compassion and truth.
Throughout the gospel of Mark we see Jesus healing those possessed with demons. It could be argued that those persons had opened the doors for those possessions to happen.
The list goes on and on of Jesus demonstrating mercy and forgiveness, and his truth, mercy, and forgiveness continue today…for us. But do we show it to others?
In John 13, Jesus says something to his disciples that becomes the distinguishing mark of his followers. “A new command I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This is what the staff at Seeds try to live out with the teens that come to us. The students have made bad decisions, which impacted others in negative ways. They “deserve” plenty, but what do they actually experience?
This is an account from one staff of a student from this past summer: “Within a week of arriving at Seeds “Michael” was wreaking havoc in our group. He was combative and angry and didn’t seem to care about how anyone else felt. He wouldn’t claim responsibility for his actions and wouldn’t admit that he had ever done anything wrong in his life. Any problem that came up was someone else’s problem. His life was mainly filled with getting high and getting with girls, and he was all fine with it. Not the sort of person it is easy to have compassion on.
Underneath the person that he showed on the outside, however, there was hurt. There was such a level of distrust and fear of the world which held him in a grip everyday. He told me once that he felt a constant anxiety in the pit of his stomach, that if he wasn’t on constant guard someone would cross him and hurt him. He desired a close relationship but couldn’t bring himself to believe that someone could have his best interest at heart. What he needed was to know that he could trust others, trust God, and be loved by them.”
We work to truly plant seeds of hope, trust, joy, love and so much more into their lives. We want them to experience truth, mercy and forgiveness. We ultimately want them to know how much God loves them and what he gave up just for them.
Mercy and forgiveness. The world needs it. I need it. You need it.