Where is our Empathy?
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Hello everyone, I’m Hank Wilson and welcome to Living a True Christian Life. Today I’m asking “Where Is Our Empathy?”
There’s a question that’s been sitting with me lately…not just in the news… not just in leadership… but in our everyday lives.
Where… is our empathy?
Because if we’re being honest, we don’t see much of it anymore.
We see strength. We see power. We see people taking sides.
But empathy?
That seems to be fading.
And as Christians… that should trouble us.
What We’re Seeing
Turn on the television… scroll through your phone…listen to the voices that are shaping our culture.
What do you hear?
You hear arguments.
You hear blame.
You hear people talking about others…
but rarely speaking with compassion for them.
The poor are statistics.
The suffering are political talking points.
The broken are often treated as burdens.
And even among leaders, people with influence, there’s often more emphasis on being right than being compassionate.
They wanted to be right, to “follow the law” and you know, here’s an uncomfortable truth:
This isn’t something that happened “back then” or just happening “out there.” To others
It’s happening among us, too.
The Example Jesus Gave Us
Because when we step back…and we look at the life of Jesus…
we see something very different.
He didn’t lead with power.
He led with compassion.
When He saw people suffering…He didn’t turn away.
He stopped.
He listened.
He touched.
He healed.
He saw people that others ignored.
The outcast.
The sick.
The poor.
The sinner.
And He didn’t reduce them to categories.
He saw them as people.
A perfect example is seen in Luke 5:27-32, “After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.
29 And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Empathy Is Not Weakness
Somewhere along the way, we started believing that empathy is weakness.
That if you show too much compassion, you’re soft… or naive… or out of touch.
But that’s not what we see in Christ.
Empathy takes strength.
It takes strength to pause when everything around you says, “move on.”
It takes strength to care when it’s easier to judge.
It takes strength to feel when the world encourages you to stay detached.
Empathy doesn’t mean you agree with everything.
It means you recognize someone’s humanity even when you don’t agree with their choices.
Jesus dealt with situations like that, we find in John 8:1-11, “8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, 4 they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” 6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. 7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
The Call We Often Miss
And this is where it becomes personal.
Because it’s easy to point at leaders and say, “They should do better.”
But what about us?
How do we respond when we encounter someone who is struggling?
Do we slow down…or do we pass by?
Do we listen…or do we assume?
Do we care…or do we categorize?
A true Christian life isn’t just about belief.
It’s about how we treat people.
Especially the ones who can’t give us anything in return.
A Quiet Shift
What if we made a small shift?
Not a grand gesture…not a public statement…
just a quiet decision:
To see people again.
To notice the person who’s hurting.
To speak with kindness when it’s not expected.
To withhold judgment long enough to understand.
Mark 5:25-34 “25 A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, 26 and had endured much at the hands of many physicians and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse 27 after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. 28 For she thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” 29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” 31 And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” 32 And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. 33 But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”
Because empathy doesn’t always require action.
Sometimes it simply requires presence.
Closing Reflection
Maybe the question isn’t “Why don’t our leaders show empathy?”
Maybe the better question is…
“Am we showing it?”
Because the world doesn’t change through arguments alone.
It changes through example.
Through small, consistent acts of compassion reflect something greater than ourselves.
And when we live that way…we don’t just talk about faith.
We show it.
Luke 6:31 “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.”
In Conclusion
This is what it means to live a true Christian life.
Not perfectly. Not loudly.
But faithfully… and with a heart that still knows how to care.