The soul of religion is compassion. God is often said to be compassionate and merciful, gracious and abounding in steadfast love. Without compassion, love does not mean very much in practice. All the great world religions espouse compassion for others as essential for the practice of their respective faiths.
In Hebrew, “compassion” comes from the word meaning “womb-love,” how a mother loves that which issues from her womb. And how could Mother God not desire that Her children have compassion for their own siblings? Jesus said that however we treat the least of His family, we are in fact treating Him, even though we likely will not be aware of it (Matthew 25:40).
Yet many view their religion in terms of how it excludes people as much or more than how it includes them. Can a genuinely compassionate person take comfort in the exclusion of others from the paradise for which we all yearn? Such exclusion should be a source of sorrow rather than satisfaction. Father God wills that all turn and live, that not one of His children remains an unredeemed, unrepentant sinner.
Heaven is a place of immeasurable inclusion, where we are at last all able to pray together, to stand before the throne of God, regardless of our prior tradition, regardless of how we got there. I remember a horrific rain storm on a major highway in Italy, back in 2002. I was afraid to pull over, because I might get hit from behind, from a car or truck which could not see me sitting there. So I had no choice but to keep on keeping on slowly and most carefully, praying for a place to pull off the highway. Finally, I saw a sign for an approaching rest stop. Fortunately, we made it. Once safely inside, we were met by more than a hundred Italians, all crammed together, all just as thankful to have reached safety as we were, a place to wait out the storm. It did not matter how each of us got there; what mattered was that we had arrived safely.
So it shall be in heaven: do not ask or judge how anybody else gets there; give thanks that you and these others have made it. And have compassion for what they weathered from the same life-storm you drove through. Life is most difficult; and as the French say, to know all is to forgive all. True religion is not about our casting forth our judgments of others and of what they must do – make that what God must do – to receive them into the same wondrous realm we seek to find ourselves. Nobody but God can put a period after the name of another; God alone will judge.
Jesus explicitly warns us against judging others. He goes farther than this: He tells us that we shall be judged by the same exact measures we use to judge others (Luke 6:37-38). In the end, Christianity is not about our personal salvation, but about who we bring with us, about the height, depth and breadth of our compassion, mercy, forgiveness and love of others. If God keeps giving us new chances, we must not deny this opportunity to others. Even if we can no longer have a relationship with certain persons due to past history, we must nevertheless continue to pray for them and their well-being, especially their ultimate salvation.
It is most important to understand that Jesus said the “way to the Father” was through Him (John 14:6), not the only way to God. While I am a Christian, I believe that there is more than one road to heaven, and the Way of God is through compassion and mercy. As Jesus said, what God wants is “mercy, not sacrifice” (Matthew 12:7). God asks us “to do justly and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
Keep it simple. Receive God’s compassion toward you, and pass it on others.
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