On Your Team, Always
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” —PHILIPPIANS 2:5-8 (NRSVA)
Jesus is the picture of God’s love. In becoming human, he “became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14, MSG). Jesus is God-with us so he could be God’s compassion for us, in word and deed. When he saw someone suffering, he wept with them (John 11:33) and came to their aid (Mark 10:51). He talked with the excluded and marginalized (John 4:7) and ate with the outcasts (Matthew 9:10). There was no one whose illness or status rendered them unapproachable or untouchable (Matthew 8:3). This is the kind of radical compassion that says, I am not just helping you. I am with you.
The American writer Annie Dillard writes, “So once in Israel, love came to us incarnate and stood in the doorway between two worlds, and we were all afraid.”[Annie Dillard. Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters. (New York: Harper & Row, 1982). 141.] Maybe we were afraid because we have never been properly introduced to this kind of perfect love. We don’t feel ready to be fully seen and fully known. But what if deep down, this is what we really want? To be loved in this deep and enduring and compassionate way, and to love that way in return.
REFLECT
It is often said that in order to understand someone you need to walk a mile in their shoes. Jesus came to walk in our shoes, learning to walk just like we do, feeling the same feelings, and living with the same beauty, suffering, and loss as us. How does thinking about Jesus as person-with-us resonate with you today?
RESPOND
Write a letter to God. You are welcome to use this template or start with a blank sheet of paper.
Dear God,
You came down to earth, humbling yourself to think of me. Stepping out of the safe space of heaven to be present to me. To understand how I feel.
Here is how I am feeling today:
God, you have been there. You have felt these same feelings. In this moment, I want to hand my fears and doubts over to you:
And while what I’m going through can make me feel lonely, I know I am not alone. For you are with me. And others have walked this path before too. Here is my prayer to find others who might support me, or who I may support, as we walk this together:
Thank you for always being on my team. For the compassion you show me in the midst of my struggle.
Amen.
A Blessing for Where Compassion Begins
Blessed are you Jesus, at home in heights of heaven where love is felt in every moment, where all is well.
That’s the place where you began to change the world.
Not with a program or a system, but with the absolute refusal to let the unloved and the unlovely stay that way.
Your mind was made up, the decision made to draw the circle larger and loop us all in.
Blessed are you, Jesus, who made us insiders by the power of your inexhaustible compassion that loved us into belonging, and holds us there in community with you.
Somebody fought for us, and it was you.
Somebody showed up for us, and it was you.
Somebody gave everything for us, and it was you.
Somebody won, and it was all for us.
GOING DEEPER
Annie Dillard is an American author who has won so many honors and awards that it is hard to capture just how highly she is regarded in the literary world. If you are new to Annie’s work, I would recommend picking up a copy of Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters.