The Law of Compassion: A Reflection on Luke 16.19-31

I’ve seen a lot of things in my days as a Christian. One thing I honestly never thought I’d see is people, in the name of Christ, preach that compassion is not Christian and that there are those whose suffering we can rightly ignore. Even more shocking to me is how many Christians believe them. The only reason I can think of for this terrifying phenomenon is simply that compassion is exhausting, and living in a world where we can see the traumas, pain, and suffering of people live-streamed from around the world, it’s just too much. A get-out-of-compassion free card is very attractive and convenient. But if indeed Christ is our Lord and our King, we had better do what he says. And as today’s Gospel reading reminds us, this means that opting out of compassion, mercy, love, and grace is not an option.

The reading is known as the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. But it’s not so much a parable as it is a very clear and obvious morality tale. It’s the story of a wealthy man who feasts while actively ignoring the state of a man, named Lazarus (the only character in a story by Jesus to be named), who goes hungry, covered in open sores, at his gates. When they die, Lazarus is taken up to paradise, while the rich man is tormented. The formerly rich man cries out to his ancestor Abraham begging for mercy, but Abraham responds: “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony” (Luke 16.25). The man continues begging, suggesting that if he is beyond hope, perhaps God could send Lazarus back to warn his family to amend their ways. Again, Abraham rejects his suggestion, retorting: “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” (16.31).

In other words, this teaching on the necessity of compassion is so basic that it doesn’t bear repeating. It’s fundamental to the Law of Moses, not just for one’s family or religious fellows, but for the foreigner and stranger too (e.g., Leviticus 19.34; Deuteronomy 1.16). It’s fundamental to the teaching of the Prophets, who insisted that all God really wants from us is justice for the hungry, the widows, and orphans of the world (e.g., Isaiah 1.17; Jeremiah 7.6). We can even add that it’s fundamental to the Writings and Wisdom traditions of the Scriptures, which define wickedness as a lack of mercy for one’s neighbour (Proverbs 21.10).

And, as we’ve seen time and time again, and as is abundantly clear to anyone who reads the Gospels, it is fundamental to the teaching of Jesus.

And if we aren’t going to listen to him, then who will we listen to?

We cannot reject mercy and compassion, we cannot willfully ignore or, God forbid, exult in the pain and suffering of others — even our ‘enemy’ — and call ourselves Christian. Or to put it another way, we are Christian inasmuch as we embody the love and grace of our Lord, for those the world considers the least, the lost, and the last, for the last person we’d want to, for all creation itself.

The answer to our compassion fatigue and the immensity of the world’s suffering is not to opt out, but simply to do something, anything, to help.

May we all reject any convenient lie telling us there are people in the world we do not have to love, or whose needs we do not need to care are being met. May we, as Christians most of all, recommit to following Jesus, and do mercy, do love, and do justice in the world, for all, always.

“‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15.12)

“The one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13.8b)