Healing Rays of Righteousness

The prophet Micah told his contemporaries that what God requires of us is “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  (Micah 6:8). Even though each of these virtues is worthy of thought and comment, I want to focus on the middle one – “love mercy.”

Sidney Greenberg, a Jewish Rabbi, writes in a devotional that “Judaism did not permit mercy to remain merely a feeling, a kind of inner glow of benevolence or pity. It demanded that the feeling be translated into a host of benevolent acts. Such are called gemlut chesed, an act of loving kindness. …  An act of loving kindness is a humane response to human need. It is your pain in my heart.”

He concludes the devotional with this strong challenge – “Loving-kindness reveals the inability to remain content in the presence of a person who is troubled; the inability to remain comfortable in the presence of a person who is uncomfortable; the inability to enjoy serenity when one’s neighbor is distressed. … The most important art to be cultivated in life is the art of loving-kindness. The person who has mastered it is doing God’s work here on earth.” 

The word “empathy” is a good word for carrying “your pain in my heart.” According to the dictionary, empathy is the “entrance into the feeling or spirit of another person.”  It is the capacity to look at life from another’s perspective; to understand their thoughts, to feel their feelings, to walk in their shoes, to keep in step with them. Empathy is the offering of our time, attention, and love to another. It is different from “sympathy.”

Most importantly, to become an empathetic, compassionate friend who carries “your pain in my heart” is the greatest gift we can give to anyone who is hurting and urgently needs the reassurance of being loved by God and neighbors. And as Rabbi Greenberg says, “…it is doing God’s work here on earth.”

For when we embrace and empathize with another wounded person, the healing presence of Jesus Christ flows over us and through us, transmitting God’s healing love to the other through our touching, thus making us “wounded healers” of God’s healing presence in our world.

Paul’s own life of many pain-filled experiences and his trusting connectedness to God confirms the truth of God’s compassionate, healing heart, and so he encourages all who experience pain with this testimony; “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

My notes on this verse remind me that we cannot do healing presence, instead, we become a healing presence as we choose to “love mercy” and empathize with those around us who are painfully wounded. We become God’s love and healing presence to them by gently holding the other’s pain in our heart and comforting them “with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

In his book, “When a Congregation Cares,” Abraham Schmitt writes, “It is not possible to care unless one is willing to enter into another’s pain.” This is a strong statement that has proven correct throughout my experiences of ministry as a pastor and chaplain.  (I recommend reading this book.)

These years of ministry also taught me that empathy is not a natural human response. It must be learned through sincere desire and commitment to do so. This is seldom an easy decision. I regretfully confess that at times I have been inclined to quickly give my scriptural encouragement and exit from the apparent time-consuming and emotionally demanding situation.

But with God’s help, heart-filled empathy can be learned by all who choose to “love mercy” and be a trustworthy, compassionate friend to those hurting physically, emotionally, socially, or spiritually. May we always choose to do so!

Bless’d Be the Tie That Binds

Bless’d be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.

The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne we pour our ardent prayers;

our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, our comforts and our cares.

We share each other’s woes, each other’s burdens bear,

and often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part, it gives us inward pain,

but we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again.

(John Fawcett, 1782)

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Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness” – www.geigler13.wordpress.com – August 6, 2025