For the Love of WomenNäide

Jesus Showed Empathy toward Women:

There’s been a strange and unbiblical wave of anti-empathy in some Christian circles. Those who criticize empathy seem to believe that it’s somehow wrong to care deeply about the hurts and problems others are facing. Empathy is not always easy to access and it’s even more difficult to act upon. However, by examining how Jesus lived and interacted with others, we cannot claim it’s antithetical to the life of a Christian.

Perhaps one of the reasons some individuals want to distance themselves from empathy is that they believe deeply caring for someone means that you must overlook or minimize their sins. It’s always easier to blame someone when they suffer (even if they did nothing wrong, see John 9:1-7) than it is to be present in their pain. Jesus’ interaction with the woman caught in the act of adultery shows us another way.

After refusing to engage with their plot to trap him, Jesus flips the narrative and forces the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who want to punish this woman to see their hypocrisy. As they drop their stones and walk away, Jesus tells her to leave her life of sin. He saved her life but also calls her to abandon her misguided lifestyle. In this short story, we clearly see that empathy and truth telling are not mutually exclusive.

Jesus’ capacity for empathy is powerfully revealed just before his death on the cross. He notices his mother, who obviously must have been distraught watching her son die, and commends her to the disciple John. Amidst the greatest physical suffering any of us can imagine, he was able to look beyond his pain and care for his beloved mother.

Empathy is not simply a feeling. It’s the capacity to understand another’s suffering and act in love and compassion toward them. Rather than being antithetical to the life of the Christian, it should be central.

Prayer: Father God, help me to have eyes to see the pain and suffering of others. And give me the capacity to show them love and mercy in their moments of need.

©Dorothy Littell Greco, For the Love of Women: Uprooting and Healing Misogyny in America