People Need Help, Not Pity

CONSECRATE Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  HEAR 1 John 3:17–18 (NIV) If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. CONSIDER Remember the time Jesus said this: Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.” They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?” He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. (Matthew 25:41–46) Yeah, that’s what John is saying in today’s text: If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Now, let’s remember our banner verse, 1 John 3:16: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Just in case you were thinking John had martyrdom in mind, he shows us that “to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” can be as simple as sharing with a person in need. The interesting phrase that sticks out to me is “has no pity on them.” I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had a positive feeling about pity. In my understanding, pity implies feeling sorry for someone. People who need help don’t typically want you to feel sorry for them. They want you to help them. Who wants pity? When I dug into the text, I learned that the phrase “has no pity on them” in Greek comes from the word kleio and can mean “to close up one’s heart.” Other English Bible translations like the ESV, NASB, and NKJV go with the idea of closing one’s heart rather than pity. Perhaps our English word for pity once meant something more heartfelt, but not so much now. To close my heart to a person in need strikes me as something altogether different from having no pity on that person. Further, helping someone in need is not about giving someone some spare change. And it’s not an obligatory act. The holy love of God is about compassion, which is a Holy Spirit–inspired disposition of the heart that leads to action. The big issue isn’t whether we are helping people in need; it’s whether our hearts are truly open to those we are helping. I’ve helped people in need many times just to make myself feel better, but I can’t say my heart was truly open to them. Know what I mean? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. That’s it! Love means doing something for another from the deep wellsprings of Christ in us. It’s not just actions, nor is it mere truth. Love is a holy compulsion to help others, everywhere, all the time, no matter what, so help us God. John isn’t trying to shake us up. He’s shaking us down. He’s not accusing us but awakening us. This is not about already having it all together. It’s all about being on the way. According to Jesus, there’s a lot at stake here. Let’s not be afraid of asking ourselves the hard questions. Only the truth will set us free. PRAY Lord Jesus, you know I want to help others and you know what a challenge it is every time I see a person in need. In the face of overwhelming need and intractable challenges, give me the courage to love with action. Teach my heart to follow my help. I can’t do it without you. I pray in your name. Amen.