Exodus 3:1-15; Psalm 63:1-8; I Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9
The Rev. Candice B. Frazer
Empathy is not a sin. If you hear nothing else today in this sermon, I need you to leave here having heard that empathy is not sinful, nor is it a weakness or moral cowardice. I do not preface this sermon with that statement because of Elon Musk’s comment that “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” Nor because of J. D. Vance’s distorted understanding of what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. Though those comments give me pause. I have no desire to preach about what is happening in DC or politics in general. What I care about is the threat of Christian Nationalism and its war on empathy.
Christian Nationalism is the greatest threat there is to Christianity. I have said that before and I will continue to say it. It influences what we believe and how we think about God and his call to us to live as Christians. Christianity has been hijacked by Christian Nationalists in order to put forward a social, cultural, political, and religious ideology that has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. It allows ideology based on concepts such as hero worship, strength, and power to inform theology rather than the other way around—theology informing our ideologies. It is the vehicle by which humanity, or at least, particular humans, become divinely ordained, say for instance, Pharoah.
Pharoah was the head of state and the religious leader of the Egyptians. He acted as the divine intermediary between the gods and the people. By the time of Moses, he had forgotten the Israelites ancestors—especially Joseph—and thus, their God. He had no concern for the Israelites other than as slaves who served his whims. As a divine king he favored strength and power not connection or empathy. Pharoah hears the cries and sufferings of the Israelite slaves and gives them more work and fewer resources to get what he wants.
Moses’ God is one who observes the misery of his people and hears their cries. He “knows their sufferings” and has now come down to deliver his people from the Egyptians—from the false god, Pharoah. Instead of requiring more of his people, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob empathizes with his people. He does not blame them for their situation nor does he stand to the side and simply “feel” for them. He KNOWS their sufferings, he has empathy for them.
Recently, Joe Rigney, Fellow of Theology at New St. Andrews College and associate pastor at Christ Church in Idaho which advocates Christian Nationalism, published a book entitled The Sin of Empathy. In the book he argues that empathy “leads to cowardice.” Specifically, he defines “untethered empathy” as an over-identification with the feelings of another person. Throughout his book, he misrepresents theologians like C. S. Lewis and psychologists like Ed Freidman and Paul Bloom, quoting them out of context and exacerbating particular claims to mean something they do not. He compares empathy to Marxism and declares that churches who take care of “victims” are soft-hearted and are steered by the emotions of others rather than being faithful to God. And let’s be clear, by “victim” his is talking specifically about the poor, those who have been abused, and those who have suffered discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality.
He argues that identifying with those on the margins of society leads to evil and is against God. He uses the example of a person drowning and that “empathy” wants to jump in and get swept away. He offers a variety of Old Testament scriptures as evidence that empathy is unwarranted and makes the claim that it is dangerous to have “been told your whole life as a Christian to be kind and tender hearted as the Bible does, to be like Christ and to weep with those who weep.”
And yet, here in the very beginning of the story of God’s chosen people, the Israelites, God sees them drowning in slavery—he knows their suffering—and he jumps in to save them.
Empathy is not simply over-identification with those who suffer. It is not a feeling nor is it a manipulation tactic. Most folks don’t go hungry to make you feel bad for them. People—be they adults or children—don’t struggle with their identity because they want to guilt or shame you. They are feeling enough of that on their own, they do not need your guilt and shame to bear as well. Those who live on the outside of society, would rather live within the bounds of that which we consider normal. No one wants to be abnormal—they simply want food and healthcare and acceptance. The ancient Israelites did not willingly put themselves into a position of slavery in order to gain God’s attention.
Empathy is the ability to connect to another person through their suffering. It is about trying to put yourself in the other person’s situation and understand how they are experiencing it—not how you think it ought to be experienced or even how you believe you might have experienced it yourself. It is a “going over and coming back.” Looking at it from their perspective and then bringing back their perspective and intertwining it with how you experience the world.
Empathy calls us to understand one another instead of judge one another. It broadens us—not only our relationships but the way we see, perceive, and think about the world. Empathy picks up where data leaves off—it fills out the details of our story together and gives us direction.
God sees the suffering of his people. God knows that suffering. And God defines a direction—set the captives free.
Empathy is the gift God gives to us to care for one another. It is the part of the divine that connects us to God and one another. It is the reason Jesus weeps when he feels the pain and sorrow of Martha and Mary after their brother Lazarus dies. It is the story he tells of the Good Samaritan. It is the repentance he calls the Jews to, who are concerned about the Galileans who Pilate has murdered or those who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them. It is the strength he relies on to climb on a cross and die for our sufferings.
Empathy is not a sin, nor is it a weakness. Sin divides us from God and one another. Empathy is a divine gift that draws us closer to one another and a strength that draws us closer to God.
Amen