2026.04.26 | Compassion
“Compassion”
Luke 10:25–37
Rev. Ashley Wai'olu Moore
Eden United Church of Christ, Cherryland, CA
April 26, 2026
Good morning, Beloved!
As we continue with our Changemaker series today, we look at the first of four qualities of a Changemaker: the gift of compassion.
The word compassion means a “deep awareness of the suffering of another accompanied by the wish to relieve it.” Compassion is at the center of Jesus’ teachings. It is at the core of what it means to be a Christian and therefore a disciple of Christ. We see the suffering of people in the world and in our communities and we feel this tug inside our spirits, this call to respond, to play some part in repairing the situation and easing their pain. Yet in a world full of suffering, where do we begin? The problems can seem immense and complicated, while we ourselves feel so small. How can we even HOPE to make a difference? How can WE change anything?
Will you pray with me:
Gracious God,
You call us to love and serve you with body, mind, and spirit inviting us to hold the needs of our sisters and brothers as dear as our own. Help us to see beyond our own struggles and to recognize the struggles of others. Inspire us to be vessels of Your love, ready to bind up the wounds of the broken-hearted, the weak, and the weary. Let compassion flow from our hearts like the oil and wine that the Samaritan poured into the wounds of the afflicted man. We pray that when we encounter those who have been hurt by life’s circumstances —whether through illness, loneliness, grief, or despair— You will help us to respond with the love and tenderness that You so graciously bestow on us. May our hands be Your hands, healing the sick and comforting the sorrowful. May our words be Your words, speaking hope into the lives of the hopeless. Amen.
In the reading from Luke that we heard moments ago, a man stands up to test Jesus, asking how he might live a life worthy of heaven. When Jesus asks him what he has read in the law, the man answers saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind and (love) your neighbor as yourself.” 28And Jesus said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” In Matthew’s account of this exchange, Jesus adds “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt 22:40)
As friends in the body of Christ, we try to take this teaching to heart and we easily extend this neighborly love to our Christian family members, those in our churches, our denomination, to our ecumenical partners and those we perceive as doing Christ’s work in the world. As loving and encouraging as these relationships are, they can also become exclusionary with people existing in our own silos of believers, setting conditions around who we deam worthy or unworthy of being considered part of the ‘favored’ group of people. But if we stop to consider these practices, they are not all that different from the exclusionary practices of the Sadducees and Pharisees that Jesus kept drawing attention to.
So when the man’s asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responds with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The teaching the Good Samaritan parable in that moment is intended to teach us to look beyond such false divisions, to recognize that everyone we encounter are our neighbors and our kin. In the gospels, we repeatedly find Jesus among the marginalized, stigmatized and untouchables of his society. In every instance we see him respond to them without fear and without hesitation despite the fact that those around him usually try to block such interactions.
The Good Samaritan story shows that we must have care and compassion for all people because all people are made in the image of God. As such, they are worthy of our love, compassion and fellowship.
While humans may have appearances that may seem to differ widely, we are genetically 99.9% identical, all made out of the same material that God used to build the universe. Any differences we perceive are entirely superficial. Our personalities and temperaments may vary, but we are biologically related to every human being. When are we going to accept that all of humanity is ours and begin living like it? They are our family, they are our neighbors.
And yet we so easily return to this mindset of Us versus Them. At its worst, it gives rise to the kinds of xenophobia we see playing out in our country right now. The immigrants are too much, the Muslims are too different, the poor are too much of a drain, the gays and the trans people are freaks… The Christian Nationalists say that none are worthy of respect and should be denied the rights “normal people” have and denied access to the care and services that they need. We see a total lack of compassion or consideration. In fact, some politicians have been arguing that empathy is a sign of weakness and wokeness. These attitudes are not in alignment with Jesus’ teachings. We are supposed to go out and be like the Good Samaritan.
Well, I for one am not willing to go back to sleep, surviving in some isolated pod as a reservoir host in the Matrix film. Jesus has opened my eyes and set me free. Free to be who God created me to be, free to live the life God prepared for me and to answer God’s call to love and care for God’s creation. God stirs in me the deep awareness of the suffering of others which fills me with the desire to play a part in relieving it. I want to see justice roll down like waters and God’s shalom roll out across the earth so that every one of my human sisters and brothers has all that they need so that they are whole, complete and lacking nothing. This is the compassion that burns within me because of God’s love. And when I am feeling overwhelmed by all the need in the world, I take a moment to remind myself of the times when the lead of the Holy Spirit has made a difference. Let me share one of those with you.
I spent a number of years associated with Saint Paulus Lutheran Church of San Francisco. I started as a musician in their praise band and was immediately moved by their commitment to the local homeless population. During the fellowship hour that followed the service, the congregants would join in making bag lunches to be handed out to homeless neighbors during the following week.
I got to know the Pastor quite well over a period of years. He became a mentor to me and eventually encouraged me to attend seminary. A couple of years later, I had the opportunity to spend a year interning as a “Pastor in Training” under his care. Most of my duties in that parish involved working with the homeless. During the week, I travelled around the parish on foot as a chaplain interacting with those who were living on the streets, accessing services. I also served at meal program for homeless people living with AIDS. And 1/3 of the way through my internship, I also took over the community singing program known as Singers of the Streets where I taught folks how to sing and prepared meals for our community time that followed.
While my compassion and empathy made me want to be of service, I was also apprehensive of engaging with many of the people I first encountered, especially those who were loud and abrasive to or seemed emotionally unstable. Bathing was not something that they had easy access to. Nor were bathrooms. Basic hygiene was a challenge. Some wore the same clothes for days on end. Interacting with them required navigating around an unpleasant set odors. These are the kinds of things that caused most people to avoid them. Even though I grew up very poor, their daily lives seemed so different than mine that I honestly didn’t expect to have much in common with them. But those assumptions were quickly challenged.
The dispositions of the people I spoke with ranged from those who had fallen on hard times through no fault of their own, those who could not earn enough to make a living, those who had taken some huge risk and lost big, to those who said they just didn’t want to be a part of the capitalist system. Some folks wound up there because they had psychological issues that prevented them from being able to prosper. But living on the streets, disparaged by people, slowly chips away at one’s mental health. Eventually most developed some clear psychological challenges. For some, it led to their deaths.
One of the people I got to know was a man named Mark Hanson (not his real name). He had trouble caring for himself, was always visibly disheveled and usually stank to high heaven. He could often be seen looking around, muttering to himself while pushing some kind of cart around that he used to collect things he found. To many, he seemed a little scary and people steered clear of him. But all you had to do was say “hello” or “God bless you” and you would be met with the kindest eyes and a warm greeting. Once he recognized you, he would offer to give you something from the set of “treasures” in his cart. He never kept anything for himself. We often prayed together. Over time I found him to be one of the sweetest and kindest men I have ever met. Almost as if he were too gentle for the harsh realities of the world.
The bullies in the neighborhood knew this too. They would harass him, steal his things and if he tried to defend himself, they would beat him up. I interjected on his behalf a couple of times and they ran away, but found him again later and beat him more.
One day I brought him some food and invited him to come sing with SoS and share a meal with us. In the conversation that followed, he told me that he used to play piano and write songs. Surprised, I invited him to come play piano at the church. He played about 20 songs for me that afternoon…all of them original songs, expressing a deep love for God. I was astonished. These were beautiful, well-crafted compositions with lovely melodies embodying a passionate faith. His whole demeanor changed as he sang. It was like watching the glory of God come over his face. I recognized that there was power for healing and renewal there!
I eventually pieced together that he had once been a recording artist about to launch a new album and tour when his child suddenly died. He was overcome with grief. I think he felt betrayed by God. It was a profound soul wound for him. He lost the will to live and just left everything behind. He’d been on the streets ever since. I arranged for the church to give him access to our piano during the week days and he was welcomed to play and sing as often as he wished. As the months passed, people marveled both at his talent and the positive affect it seemed to be having on him. He started writing new songs. He began taking his appearance more seriously, cleaning up and looking less disheveled. People in the neighborhood told me how much better he was doing. It was amazing seeing how this simple kindnesses and the Spirit of God were working restoration power within him!
Then one day as I was leaving my meal program, I found him sprawled out, face down on the sidewalk. His face looked like he’d been in a bad fight – his face was covered with lacerations and he was really dazed. I asked what had happened and he told me the bullies had attacked him. I offered to call for an ambulance, but he declined. I asked how I could help. He said his blood sugar was low and he could use some orange juice. I left him in the care of two of his friends who had arrived and got him some OJ and food. When I returned, he was sitting up but still dazed. He drank the juice and began to feel better, but he was clearly in a lot of pain. He asked his friends to take him somewhere they knew where he felt safe. I prayed with him and then his friend’s escorted him off.
I didn’t see him again for a while and could not get news of him. I was beginning to really worry. Then the COVID pandemic struck and the shelter in place order was issued. I lost track of Mark. Several of the folks I had known passed away on the streets during that time and I feared he was going to meet the same fate. I continued to pray for him.
Fast forward to the summer of 2023. The Singers of the Street had also gone into hiatus because of the pandemic. When they were ready to restart the choir, they called me and we relaunched the choir in July of 2023. At one of our usual Wednesday gatherings, a remarkably fit man showed up on a bicycle. I didn’t recognize him at first, but this unusually gregarious and energetic man turned out to be Mark. I was beside myself with joy! He looked like a new person.
Turned out he had managed to get into a recovery program right before the shelter in place. And then, with nowhere to go, he stayed. And began working the program. Now he was employed and had his own apartment, had built a recording setup and was writing gospel music again. He thanked me for supporting him throughout that dark time and helping him find hope again. He said he had thought about our conversations as he was healing.
Compassion compelled me to approach this man who was doing everything he could to get people to leave him alone. It was a defense, a means of pushing away the people he found judgmental, cruel and even violent toward him. He had been succeeding.
I would never have thought that he and I would have anything in common. But God used that hidden commonality to allow me to play some part in his healing. I just kept listening to the Holy Spirit’s prompting trusting that she knew what was needed. I kept showing up in faith trusting God to lead. And I was blessed to see a miracle!
It is a reminder that though we may never know the impact that we might have while responding to someone due to the prodding of the Spirit, God can use us for good and to change lives. The compassion that burns within us helps us push beyond our comfort zone and respond to the move of the Spirit.
I have been blessed to experience this kind of thing many times, occasions where I only learned about the impact of something I did many years later. Sometimes in involved people who saw me speak or sing, sometimes with people I met at an event, sometimes while serving as a chaplain. It is my testimony that God is amazing and can use us to change lives even when we don’t know it!
You can be this kind of changemaker too; a compassion-driven changemaker like Jesus. “Made in the image of God, sharing in the purposes of Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, we are the ‘assets’ we’ve been looking for.”1 We are called to be Christ to one another and compassion is the fuel.
While the powers that be are trying to turn us against one another, we need to lift up and name our shared humanity and remind ourselves that there is no other. There is only us, the children made in the image of God. Let us answer the call to Christ’s radical, agape love and resist the world’s attempts to divide us. Let us be filled with loving compassion and the change making determination to keep building the Kin-dom of God through acts of loving kindness. Stand firmly against all that breaks God's shalom for God’s creation. And as Gandhi said, “Be the peace you wish to see in the world.” Amen.
1 WDS Changemakers overview.