Nov. 1, 2015

I am weary of the scorn frequently heaped upon so-called "bleeding hearts." Although we realize the term is intended to be a criticism of foolish sentimentality masquerading as love, still we find that many of those who are pegged with this label often best reflect the mind and heart of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we would not hesitate to identify ourselves with these "bleeding hearts" and their concerns, because what we know of the teachings and example of Jesus would lead us to expect to find him sharing these same concerns.

Nothing is more distressing to us than to realize not only are there many people lacking in Christian compassion for others, but that there is, on the part of many, an absolute and unqualified hostility toward anyone who attempts to practice the example of our Lord. It is equated with weakness and impractical idealism. If there is anything from which our world is not suffering, it is too much idealism.

It is often charged that the "bleeding heart" is more concerned with the evildoer than the righteous people who suffer from his sins. Christian compassion, say the critics, is a misplaced concern; it is unmerited love given to the wrong person.

There is truth of a kind in this charge. Jesus frequently seemed to fall victim to "misplaced concern." He was forever loving the "wrong person," the sinner who did not merit his love. The same charges leveled against the "bleeding hearts" of today were also hurled at Jesus.

This was certainly evident the day he went to the house of Levi, the tax collector, for dinner. Any tax collector in those days was a "wrong person." Tax collectors were indiscriminately hated because of their collaboration with the Romans in collecting their taxes.

Further, their work forced them to associate with all classes of people, many of whom did not live faithfully by Jewish law and therefore were thought to be ritually "unclean.

Finally, the tax collectors frequently extracted from the people more money than to what they were entitled. There could, therefore, be hardly any religious or social error greater than sitting down at the table with one or more tax collectors.

"Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" the Pharisees demanded (5:3l). As far as they were concerned, all tax collectors deserved punishment, not compassion. Often that same attitude seems to prevail: The sinner deserves punishment, not compassion. Not only is compassion wasted on these people, insist many, but it is also downright "wrong."

The reply Jesus gave the Pharisees that day is as shocking today as it was then: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (5:31,32). It is the sinner who needs compassion, not the righteous man.

(Are you muttering to yourself, "So what’s the point in being ‘righteous?’")

Of course, it is easy for us to mouth those words of Jesus, but it is something else to apply them when we are "the righteous" and someone else is obviously the "sinner." It is extremely difficult for us to rise above the feeling that if we are "righteous" we have some special claims on Jesus’ love.

What we forget is, as Jesus saw it, we are not as nearly so "righteous" as we imagine and there is no one who does not need to be saved by divine unmerited love alone. The Pharisees who criticized Jesus for his "bleeding heart" love were not the "righteous" men they thought themselves to be. Neither are we!

We don’t like labels, but if we must wear one, let them call us "bleeding hearts." We don’t mind, for that is what Jesus was – and still is.

•In Jesus’ time tax collectors were the "wrong people" and respectable people were not supposed to associate with them. Who are some of the "wrong people" today? How do Christians and churches relate to such people?

•The term "bleeding heart" generally has an unfavorable connotation today. With which kinds of people is this term associated today? In light of the example of Jesus and his compassion for the "wrong people" of his own day, how would you evaluate people tagged with the "bleeding heart" label?

•In Luke 5:33-39 Jesus tells his disciples that new wine should not be put into old wineskins. His good news could not be forced into many of the old moulds of past attitudes and practices. One of these old wineskins not fit for the new wine of Jesus Christ is the pharisaical attitude that would limit the love and mercy of God to those whom we judge to be "the righteous."

Can you find any passage in the New Testament in which we are instructed to be compassionate and minister to only those who "deserve" it? Why, after 2,000 years of Christian preaching and teaching, do so many people cling to this old wineskin?

•Why do some people look down upon and hold in contempt others who are compassionate?

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.