How Compassion Trumps Purity...

"Be Holy as I am Holy."

Thus sayeth the Lord ... and thus was the focus of the old covenant perspective. It was the "imatio deis" -- the way to imitate God. Be holy, in order to be like God.

May I say, this was a tough act to follow ...!

Enter Jesus ...

Reading the story of Jesus, especially if one is able to put aside the traditional lens, the two key components of Jesus' message was Spirit and compassion. These are His focal points. He lived in the Spirit, by the Spirit, through the Spirit ... He was a most Spirit-connected man (and it is this, I believe, that He was demonstrating, when He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life ..." No one comes to (experiences) the Father but through the Spirit ... within).

But I'd like to focus on compassion ... because I think it's all too easy to bypass just how radical a concept compassion was, in the Jewish realm of the first century.

What do I mean by compassion? It means "with passion." To feel with another. Feeling what another person feels in a visceral manner ... way deeper than a head-level - to a "gut level". In fact, the Aramaic and Hebrew words for compassion are associated with "womb." A deep-seated physical place that symbolizes the source of life. For men, who are obviously lacking in a literal womb, the term "loins" or "bowels" is often used ... though scripture does refer to men, even God Himself, having a womb. It's not just something we feel -- but something that compels us to take action in how we live our lives, in relation to others. So, compassion is both a deep feeling, and a way of being that's rooted in a passionate-connection to others.

Compassion is, I believe, an expression of love. In that sense, compassion is the central quality of God. God's love for us is described as compassion ... and our love for one another is rooted in compassion. Compassion sums up the two great commandments, of loving God with all we've got, and loving others (all others) as ourselves.

And so, Jesus, who came to show us the Father, says to us, "Be compassionate as God is compassionate. Almost as if to overshadow, even to replace, the former concept of "being holy as God is holy."

Now, this is far more than mere semantics ... them thar were fightin' words to the Jewish-leadership elite! For the Jewish leaders, and their followers, purity was political.

The predominant image of God was of His holiness -- and holiness was thought to mean "be separate from all that is unclean." And there was a LOT considered to be unclean..! If you were so unfortunate to be born in a lower status (the hierarchy went: priest/Levites, Israelites, converts, bastards, those with defective gonads, women, Gentiles), you were impure (to varying degrees). Further, your behavior or profession, or even your physical condition, affected your purity ... the worst of which were the "outcasts" like shepherds, tax collectors, sinners, untouchables (included lepers), eunuchs, maimed, crippled, "unwhole" people, and menstruating women. Further, if you were poor, you were largely suspect -- as it was believed that riches were a blessing from God ... so you must've sinned in order to be poor, right? (sarcasm alert: SO glad we've evolved from that one!)

I mean, compassion didn't even enter the picture. People were blamed and shamed for their (unavoidable) impurity.

No wonder that they chaffed at Jesus, as He entered the scene, declaring that they were to be "compassionate as God is compassionate" ... which both echoed the "be holy as God is holy" standard, and yet transcended it, transformed it, and brought them up short in how far they were from living it. Jesus was overturning their entire way of life! He was boldly declaring that compassion, and not holiness, was the dominant quality of God...! Jesus was saying that true purity is a matter of the heart, not a matter of observing external boundaries.

Yikes!

Let's look at how He messed with their status quo:

- He hung out with sinners, untouchables, lepers, tax-gatherers, poor folks, marginalized folks, and (gasp! and they did gasp!) women..! HE even let a despicable and filthy/unclean menstruating woman touch Him...! Egads and Gadzooks!

- He ate with them ... to first century Jews, this was a radically inclusive act -- it implied utter acceptance of the human beings one chose to eat with. In doing this, Jesus' message was loud and clear (& oh-so-offensive to them!): He was demonstrating His intention for an all-inclusive community on earth.

- He intentionally encountered "unclean" humans and locations -- as if to say "there is no more standard of purity to observe." He healed the outcasts, touching dreaded lepers, encountering those with "unclean spirits," even entering a forbidden graveyard (Gentile at that), in the midst of pigs (unclean animals)...! WHAT a message! This wasn't a message about "how to do deliverance", but of the nothingness of the purity code! He was not afraid of cooties...

- Despite being surrounded by a highly patriarchal and misogynistic society, Jesus rejected the false notion that women were "nobodies." Jesus denounced social mores and interacted with women, even non-Jewish women, even in public. He called Mary a disciple, and encouraged her "forbidden" learning. He commended the faith (and wit!) of a Gentile woman. Women followed Him (& were the most loyal followers during His crucifixion). And a woman was chosen to be the first to "tell the good news" after His resurrection. His message was clear: this was to be a movement of equals.

- Just in case they were missing the point, Jesus directly informed the Jewish leader-elites that they were like "unmarked graves" -- by doing so, He was declaring them to be a source of true impurity (hidden impurity disguised with a squeaky-clean veneer, i.e., hypocrisy). His message was that purity is a matter of the inside, not the outside.

Jesus shattered the boundaries of His day ... and a heart-understanding of His teachings, coupled with an experiential awareness of the power of love, can shatter the boundaries of our day.

Does it strike you how the current Christian focus of sin, morality, performance, behavior and holiness, is more in keeping with the Jewish purity code, than with the radical teaching of Jesus?

We can all witness how purity divides and excludes, whereas compassion unites and includes. The message of Jesus, both then and now, is that the politics of purity has been replaced by the paradigm of compassion.

The elite of Jesus' day interpreted scripture through the lens of purity. Jesus interpreted scripture through the lens of compassion. These lenses were at odds.

The same perspective/lens divide happens among those who follow (or claim to follow) Jesus today. Some focus on holiness/purity as the "Christian life", with firm lines drawn between righteous and sinners (those "in" and those "out"). The sad and tragic irony is that those folks, most of whom are sincerely seeking to be faithful to scripture, end up highlighting the very parts of scripture that Jesus challenged and opposed! If we want to be faithful to the interpretation of scripture that Jesus taught, then we need to see scripture through the lens of compassion ... which is the Abundant Life.

Jesus shows us the Father. The Father IS Compassion. May we all experience, and thus *know* this...!

And thus, may we treat all others (& ourselves) with compassion.

Shalom, Dena