Perfected Compassion

Meditations for Ragamuffins 

January 5, 2024

Perfected Compassion

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

Luke 10:37b

Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity and served in the hospice she founded in Calcutta until her death in 1997. Countless individuals journeyed to Calcutta to spend time with her to learn her secret for life. They assumed she must have some insight she could give them to help them sort out the meaning of their lives. Mother Teresa’s insights were quite simple, and incredibly profound: you will never know Jesus is all you need, until Jesus is all you have. That sounds a whole lot like Jesus saying, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it” (Matthew 10:39 (NLT), see also Matthew 16:25). Her words, like Jesus’, are hard to hear and harder still to incorporate into our lives.

Mother Teresa’s advice on how we come to the place in our lives where we fully rely on the sufficiency of Christ is the same counsel Jesus gave to an expert in religious law after Jesus told him the parable of the Good Samaritan: now go and do the same. Time and time again, Mother Teresa told the pilgrims coming to Calcutta that the meaning of their lives would be found in understanding the conjunction between Matthew 5:48 and Luke 6:36.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, “But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ message to his followers is, “You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.” So which is it? Are we to be perfect or compassionate? Yes. We are perfected in our compassion! Mother Teresa gently pointed out to those pilgrims making the journey to Calcutta that Christ calls us to express our compassion wherever we find ourselves, every day.

My Takeaway: Perfected compassion is not only administered in Calcutta; it is expressed in Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, Missouri, Jerusalem, and on the road to Jericho.

“Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.” 

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.