Do you know the difference between empathy and sympathy?  Empathy is the ability to understand, relate to, and perceive another’s feelings and needs.  Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone in their circumstances and wishing their good.  Both empathy and sympathy can result in actions to benefit the other person but, at least from my experience, I would rather be on the receiving end of empathy when I’m hurting.

It is not possible for us to always have empathy for others when they are in need.  Empathy comes from having walked in the hurting person’s shoes.  In other words, empathy comes from having experienced the same pain and trouble.  For us, it is not possible to know what it is like to walk in everyone’s shoes, but for that reason it makes it all the more important for us to extend empathy to people when we can.  However, when we have not experienced another’s pain or difficulty, we can still extend our sympathy. As Paul tells us in Romans 12:15 “mourn with those who mourn.”

We all desire empathy from others when we are in pain, but often it is hard to come by.  However, there is One who has perfect empathy for us in our pain and temptation, because as the writer of Hebrews tells us “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Heb 2:17-18 NIV)  Yet in all this, He “was without sin.” (Heb 4:15)

Empathy was a huge part of the Incarnation.  Jesus voluntarily became a man.  He became one of us and in doing so directly shared in the pain, suffering, and temptations that we all experience.  He voluntarily walked in our shoes because He loves us and by living a life perfectly submitted to God, even to an undeserved death on the cross, He made possible our salvation, our forgiveness, our spiritual healing, and our reconciliation to God.

Jesus understands our pain and our troubles.  He does more than just offer us pity, He extends to us His perfect empathy.  As followers of Christ, we should do the same for each other.  All of us have walked in other people’s shoes more than we sometimes admit.  We often dull our empathy because we feel it is too costly to share another’s pain and relive something from our past.  If we are to be like Jesus, we must remember what He has done for us and what it cost Him, because in comparison, the cost we are asked to pay is quite small.

Steve Jernigan

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