Compassion is a word we often use in the Vineyard to sum up the kind of Christians we want to become. Jesus “had compassion” on the harassed and helpless (Matt. 9:36), and this moves us to want to have compassion in all that we do as churches.

Compassion literally means “to suffer with.” When we learn to “suffer with” those in physical distress, or economic pain, over time we begin to carry God’s heart for the poor. Compassion is learned by doing the work of the kingdom – the work of serving the poor. This takes moving beyond mere sympathy for the poor. Compassion is a motivation of the heart that gets our hands dirty, and causes us to live in a way that is contrary to a world turning its applause toward anyone with celebrity status, wealth, or reputation.

Hear these words from the prophet Isaiah, that reveal a promise from God when we act compassionately in the world he loves:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe them and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I” (Isaiah 58:6-9).

We can practice radical hospitality, radical welcome to those in need, just as the early Church did. We can seek out those who are marginalised by society (even by churches) and treat them with dignity and honour. We can see the lost, the poor, the outcast, and the outsider through the loving eyes of Jesus. In fact, we can even see the poor as Jesus (Matthew 25:40). When we remember the poor, when we serve the poor – we are serving Christ.