(Opinion) Each December, we hear a well-meant admonition: “Keep Christ in Christmas.” I affirm that plea with my whole heart. The season of Christ’s birth should not be swallowed up by anxiety about gifts’ shipping dates, nor should the manger in Bethlehem be drowned in tinsel and emptied of wonder.
But there is a quieter, graver danger that does not wait for December and does not end when the lights come down: taking the Christ out of Christian. That happens whenever we subtract empathy from discipleship, whenever the self narrows our field of vision until we can no longer see the plight of our neighbor.
Empathy is not a soft substitute for holiness; it is the pulse of the Christian, and the Christmas, story. To call it a sin is to confuse the selfishness of self with the self-giving love of Jesus.
The irony, of course, is ancient. Many in Jesus’ day grew angry precisely because his heart was too open. He touched those deemed untouchable, ate with those labeled unworthy, healed on days deemed inconvenient and noticed people that others learned not to see. The complaint then — even from his own disciples — was that he was too near to the wrong people.
The complaint now, in some corners, is that Christians are “sinfully empathetic.” The attitude lingers, even as the gospels show us a savior moved in his very gut by the pain before him.
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If we let it, the season offers a gentle epiphany — a revelation about how God draws near. Consider a simple, sorrow-touched holiday tale: Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl.” A child, shivering in the snow, tries to sell matches as passersby hurry past, their errands louder than her hunger. She lights the matches one by one for a moment’s warmth; in the final, flickering glow, she sees the grandmother who loved her, and the story ends with a reunion in a place where compassion is not scarce.
Andersen’s tale is morose and melodious at once, a winter parable about our capacity to look away. Yet it is also about a tender hope that refuses to die. It asks each of us, softly but insistently: Would I have stopped? Would I have knelt? Or would I have tightened my scarf and quickened my step?
These questions are not meant to shame; they are meant to awaken. Empathy is the discipline of pausing long enough to imagine, “What if that were me? What if that were my child?” It is not agreement with every choice; it is the willingness to feel another’s ache long enough to ask what love requires.
Jesus models this over and over. When a woman accused of adultery is surrounded by those who would stone her to death, Jesus stills the violence first, then points her toward a better life. He touched the lepers before he healed them — restoring a human bond before restoring skin. With the hungry crowd, he fed them not because they proved worthy of bread, but because they were hungry. Such empathy is not weakness; it is holiness with hands.
There is, to be sure, a temptation in every age to harvest the political or social capital of Christianity without undertaking its cruciform work. In subtle ways, we can turn “Jesus is Lord” into “Jesus is useful,” wearing the mantle of faith as a veneer for our own authority. The Roman emperor Constantine tried to do as much, draping the cross in the colors of power. We need to ask which way our loyalty bends — toward self-sacrifice, or toward fear and force. The answer will be revealed, not by our slogans, but by our readiness to feel and to serve.
Empathy can be costly. It unsettles our schedules; it tugs at our resources; it asks us to carry one another’s burden. But the answer to compassion fatigue is not compassion famine.
Christmas itself is God’s gentle declaration that empathy is not a sin but the shape of divine love. “Emmanuel” — God with us — means God refuses to love from a safe altitude. Beautifully poetic, God learns our language, enters our sorrows and, in Jesus, weeps at a friend’s grave. If the cradle sanctifies anything, it sanctifies nearness. The cross confirms it: Love does not stand at the edge of suffering with folded arms; it steps toward the wounded and calls them “neighbor.”
Please, keep Christ in Christmas. But do not stop there. Keep Christ in Christian. Keep the tenderness that touches the untouchable, the patience that listens to the silenced, the mercy that moves from feeling to action. Empathy is the furthest thing from a sin; it is the soil in which Christian love takes root. For a Christianity that cannot feel will soon fail to love — and a church that trades empathy for power may gain the world and lose the Christ whose name it bears.
This commentary was originally published by Religion News Service and the views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of The Roys Report.
Jonathan B. Hall is senior pastor of the First Christian Church of North Hollywood
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21 Responses
Amen!
1000 amens to this article.
Once again, the dividing line here is SIN. As a believer, I want to love the way Jesus did, stretching out my hands to give to those in need. What I do not possess, however, is the ability to forgive the sins of those with whom I interact. I cannot ignore their sin – Jesus tells me to confront it, to abhor it, to stay away from it. “Go and sin no more” are Jesus words.
So, I am left with a choice: Do I help those who intentionally break the law by ignoring their sin? No. Do I help those who intentionally use my gift to buy more illegal drugs? No. Do I help those who traffic children into our country? No.
We, as believers, are told to be wise as serpents, harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16). This calls for discernment, not throwing pearls before swine. Too often, Christians are shamed into giving to those who not only don’t deserve their gifts, but actively work against Christ Himself by continuing to sin.
So, “toxic empathy” is the phrase used to describe those who lack discernment and who, by their actions, actually hurt the cause of Christ rather than help it. If your gift encourages the continuation of sinful behavior, can it be called “empathy”?
No, I don’t believe it can. Yes, we need to “feel,” as the author stated, but we also need to use the minds God has given us to choose wisely. I would submit that “a Christianity that cannot feel will soon fail to love,” but a Christianity that stops thinking will soon be inundated with heresy and a tendency to think social causes eradicate the need for a Savior.
Amen! Thank you for your wise perspective.
Cynthia,
Jesus and Christianity does not work on a “deserved” platform or you would not be a Christian. Yes we are to be wise but we don’t know all the facts when people seek help. True story here: just bc a mom comes to a food drive pick up with beer cans in the floor board of the car bc she has an alcoholic husband does not mean that she and her children do not deserve to have a little help. My inlaws church shut down their food care ministry bc they felt too many people came that didn’t deserve it and this is the example they gave me. This is completely un Christ like. How dare they judge that woman when they don’t know all that she is going through just to hang on another day. Helping people has nothing to do with sin. The Lord uses our kindness often times down the road. You don’t look at someone’s sin and decide they are unworthy.
Wilma:
No mention of “deserved” was made. And, if you are short on facts when people seek help, you don’t just automatically hand them money. Instead, you pray and seek the wisdom of God to determine what to do. Both mind and heart need to be involved, not just your feelings in the moment.
Your words: “Helping people has nothing to do with sin.”
In my opinion, helping people has EVERYTHING to do with sin. Jesus himself came to fight against sin and to eradicate it with his blood. Do you think he helped people by simply giving them food or healing their diseases? No.
Mark 2: 3- 12 shows that Jesus was about far more than physical needs. He was about spiritual needs and giving people the opportunity to spend eternity with Him.
This life is incredibly short. We need to reach people by turning them away from sin and toward Jesus. Showing them love means speaking the truth about their self-destructive behaviors. It involves far more than opening a food pantry and calling it a day. That’s known as “social gospel,” and it leaves out Jesus and why he came in the first place.
Shortsighted article. If you read between the lines, he is condemning the deportation of illegal immigrants.
If you really want to be empathetic, then a league of nations should govern justly and without corruption, the many countries of Africa, South America and Asia that have failed government systems.
This will improve the lot of the local people immensely.
They will not have to break up families and risk lives to enter Western nations illegally and live purposeless lives here. They will have a content and self-sufficient existence in their own countries and in their own cultures.
Never once does he mention the slaughter of the unborn. Where is his empathy?
Thank you so much for this!! I’m so tired & weary of the talk that empathy is sin. What heresy are some Christians falling for? It’s crazy to me that anyone, especially followers of Jesus, could buy into that. What do they do with the Good Samaritan? Just throw it out, ignore it. I love what Shane Claiborne says…”I guess that’s why God invented highlighters…so we can highlight the parts we like and ignore the rest.”
(Mt 14:14)
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
(Mt 15:32)
Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”
(Ex 22:21-23)
“Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”
“Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.”
(Ex 23:9)
“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.”
(Lev 19:33-34)
“ ‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
(Lk 6:27-29)
“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.
On Christmas Day, Trump bombed people.
(Pr 6:16-19)
16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
A lovely feel good article thats intention is to direct us to be like Jesus no matter the season. Agreed! Looking further into the author who penned this opinion piece reveals the vision of the way the current generation of young adults view this Jesus. All are included but sin and repentance are never mentioned.
My king Jesus loved all but His biblical interactions included the instructions of ‘go and sin no more’.
I am a, you are a sinner and we all fall short and we need a Savior whose shed blood saves from the wrath of a just God. Otherwise, why The Cross?
Reading the bios of this Pastor and the others who serve at this church in North Hollywood, truly highlights exclusively, IMO, the feels of the social justice Jesus that many young preachers espouse. It doesn’t appear that anyone went to seminary, but a lot of good entertainment backgrounds.
This is the seeker sensitive movement that tickles the ears of the ‘everybody gets a trophy’ generation. Research the website of the church as the edifice itself is lovely, old and quaint but sans Doctrine! Whoops! Instead, the focus is on feelings, empathy and experiences. Nothing new under the sun, but the cross of Christ is offensive. Substitutionary atonement, thank you Lord!
Let’s continue to be Berean’s and study ALL of scripture. God of the OT is the same as God of the NT and people suffer with lack of knowledge and wisdom. The platform of ‘all are accepted’ is a yes but Jesus doesn’t leave one in that current state because it excludes His admonition to be transformed by the renewing of one’s mind. Let’s go a sin no more.
Of course I love your ideal but at this point popular American religion AKA white American evangelicalism is vastly too far gone – to infected, to infected with hate, to infected with fear, to infected with rage – desperately filling themselves with every rage baiting huckster and grifter literally 24/7 – from their pulpits, from their fake news media (known fraud) and their orange savior – an inveterate adulterer serial liar and convicted fraud.
Maybe the whole land simply needs to be wiped away to cleanse the world from this cancer and pus filled destructive infection of white American evangelicalism.
VERY sad to say….
“It is not agreement with every choice; it is the willingness to feel another’s ache long enough to ask what love requires.”
Brilliantly expressed. Thank you for this piece. It’s easy to grow weary of sounding this bell; that empathy and compassion are reflections of God. Virtues fostered and fed by His nearness. It’s a genuine encouragement to read this article.
Sadly, the attack on empathy is coming from within the church.
May or hearts desires be aligned with Jesus.
those who “preached” that empathy is sinful, many of the Christian LEADERS have embraced this philosophy on helping the poor as Jesus instructed. I cannot believe that people embrace that philosophy instead of what Jesus taught! This is what happens when you rely on everyone else instead of digging- into what HIS Word says. An excellent correction that the Church needs. PS Read what Jesus Himself said about empathy in His Word. It’s everywhere throughout!
From the author’s church website:
“You belong.
(YES, YOU!)
If you’re looking for a statement of beliefs to be accepted at our church, you won’t find it. Instead, we offer an open invitation to follow the most radically inclusive person ever to walk the earth—Jesus. We’re a faith family of believers without the expectation of shared beliefs; a church that can hold all of us without being beholden to “one right way” of being a Christian. Here, we honor God’s good creation by welcoming people of all races, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic statuses to worship and fully participate in every aspect of church life. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) highly values education, because it helps combat extremism, xenophobia, homophobia, and any form of “othering” that seeks to divide and destroy.”
One Olsen:
Thanks for posting what you did. It illustrates perfectly the current heresy we must fight with everything we have!
Christ cannot countenance SIN. Pass it on!
Well written and very appropriate!
Love is at the core of existence. It is evident in every aspect of history and present how much God loves his creation. We would be well to adopt God heart on the matter and love unconditionally. He will sort out the rebellious, we are just to demonstrate empathy as he instructs.
Ah, yes…God definitely loves His creation. At the same time, he HATES sin. It is why the flood was used to wipe out the world. It is why dogs licked Jezebel’s blood. It is why Sodom and Gomorrah were incinerated. It is why Canaan was obliterated. It is why the Ten Commandments came to be. Jesus and God are ONE, and Jesus came to take away our sins. Any “Gospel” that says otherwise is a false one. Any “Gospel” that does not center Jesus coming to rescue us from sin is a FALSE GOSPEL.
I could go on, but let those who espouse toxic empathy take warning: Jesus loves the sinner and hates the sin. He loved people by telling them to STOP SINNING. The Jesus of the Gospel turned tables over and called the Pharisees/Sadducees “white-washed tombs” because of their hypocrisy.
Love cannot and does not tolerate sin. Love turns people away from sin and points them toward Jesus.
Love does not attempt to “make people feel welcome” by ignoring their sin. Instead, love confronts sin head on and tells people to turn away from it toward Jesus.
That is the gospel message, that is the truth: Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He did not come to make people feel comfortable.
Dr. Cynthia,
It’s not often that I reply but I do read your comments. I say a strong AMEN to your perspective and wisdom. Written in truth and love as a challenge to any who believe in a false gospel.
One Olsens’ comments remind me of a church close to where I live. Their sign in front says “Come as you are”. Knowing a few people who go there, all are accepted “in their sin” but not convicted to change their lives in repentance and obedience to our Savior. Come as you are doesn’t mean we are to stay that way! That is a feel good easy gospel.
The authors’ church might benefit from a “statement of beliefs”, a doctrinal summation that is crucial and necessary. Focusing on Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Otherwise what does that church stand for?
This article is a typical strawman argument from the Left; proof that conservative Christians in the US don’t want to help the less fortunate (here reading ‘don’t act like Christ’) is that they don’t support certain government policies. It’s simply not true, and those people accused simply don’t exist. It’s like the “homophobic” label – the assumption being the only reason a person doesn’t support homosexuality is out of fear and ignorance. The Christians I know care deeply about homosexuals (and illegal immigrants, foreigners, et.al.), but condemn the behavior on biblical principals, not because they are afraid. But even so, it’s a moot point because fear of something does not negate it from being truthful. I fear drunk drivers, and not out of ignorance. The vast majority of Christians who don’t support government policies to fix inequalities do so because they feel government is the worst possible way to solve the problem. It’s not because they don’t care about the problem. Caring is the responsibility of the individual, or family, or the church, or neighbors, or benevolent societies, etc… We oppose government solutions because we can clearly see they only make things worse, lend themselves to tremendous abuse, and are horrifically wasteful. This assumption that Christ would vote for modern Leftist government solutions is as ludicrous as saying Jesus would be in favor of burning piles of money in the streets to warm those that are cold, and if you don’t agree, you don’t care about the cold and are not a Christian. As usual, the opposite is true.
Here is a genuine question – why should Christians try to keep Christ in Christmas?
Would Jesus Himself say he wants to be in Christmas?
What even is Christmas?
When you break it down, “Christmas” includes a religious element and secular elements.
The religious element is not commanded for in Scripture nor by apostolic precedent. Therefore, it seems right that it should be a matter of Christian liberty and the matter calls for wisdom.
The secular elements should be discerned by Christians as to whether they are beneficial. These come again down to Christian liberty and the right use of wisdom.
But let us remember, that each one of us will give an account to the Lord, and to him we will either stand or fall. We are not to have friendship with the ungodliness of the world, including all covetousness, lying, and greed.
So by all means, celebrate Christmas where you may do so to the glory of God in all good conscience according to his precepts, or you may freely abstain from it, and celebrate the birth of the Saviour in another way.
But why do we take the stance that Christmas in itself is some kind of fundamental aspect of the Christian faith, when it is not found in the word of God or by apostolic precedent?