I have been lucky to come across many teachers in my life, both in the literal and figurative sense.  As I have noted before, teachers have often come from the most unexpected places, although I must admit that I haven’t been as consistently open to listening as I should have been.  Sometimes the most powerful teachers are those that walk alongside us as friends in our daily life.

A woman who has become a dear friend, and who has challenged me and encouraged me in my own journey, recently preached a sermon up in Boston.  She spoke powerfully about how blind we often are to the needs of others—and often those “other” neighbors ae living in close proximity physically albeit far away experientially.  My friend put it this way:

We need … to be mindful of the world around us and our impact on it. We need to be willing to be uncomfortable and to learn the skills of deep listening. We need to ask those simple questions, ‘Where does it hurt?’ and ‘How can I help?’. This is what radical empathy means.

I asked her if I could use the term “radical empathy” as inspiration for this post and she agreed.

In previous posts, I have talked about how we get in our own way of flexing our empathetic muscle.  We either are blinded by the fake selves that we see portrayed on social media, or we are unwilling to reveal our needs to other which prevents them (and us) from the benefits of empathy well developed and delivered.  This notion of “radical empathy” takes my thesis to the next level.

Where I think my previous posts on empathy have fallen a little short of the mark is not talking about the radical nature that true empathy needs to have.  Nor do I think my description of empathy accurately captures the true “radical” nature of Jesus’ empathy.

I looked up the definition of the word radical and these words immediately jumped off the page:

“affecting the fundamental nature of something”

This is what we are being challenged to do with our gifts of empathy—more than simply providing a shoulder to cry on and supporting on an individual level.  We are being called to channel empathy into action.  I have struggled to reconcile what seems to be inert empathy with the tragedy that recently happened in Florida and cost seventeen people their lives.  We can think that it’s enough to send “thoughts and prayers” to those affected but empathy without action is hollow.  Jesus’ empathy was always tied with a goal of changing nature—either of those with whom he personally interacted or on a more macro societal basis.

I also like the notion of being “willing to be uncomfortable” because it is a call to action on two important levels.  We need to be vulnerable to the suffering around us because we can never get inured to the pain surrounding us.  I find it easier to turn that blind eye because not seeing means not feeling.  Yet that is a selfish act and puts my own comfort ahead of everyone else.  The second call to action is one of actually doing something which requires a different level of discomfort.  But Jesus showed by his actions that we need to be active agents for positive change and not passive observers.  Sitting idly by is, no doubt, the more “comfortable” thing to do.  Radical empathy means embracing discomfort to become that agent that we are asked to be.