The tragic Superpower of Empathy

Sermons of Pastor Rob Myallis

Lent 5 (March 17, 2024)

Jesus was the most empathetic human who has ever lived.

But for Jesus, like for all humans, empathy exposes him to the pain and suffering of others. In the cross, this empathy is taken to another level, a wholly divine level, whereby Jesus fully empathizes and fully takes on our suffering, shame and sin. This brings him to cry out “My God, My God, Why Have you Forsaken Me!” (Mark 15:34)

The good news of the Empty Tomb is that one day, we will get to proclaim to our sin, suffering and shame: “It — namely you — are finished.” But for seasons of our lives, we live bearing a cross that prevents us from such confident and joyful proclamation. In those days, we know that Jesus prays with us, even our deepest laments…slowly tilling the soil in our suffering to raise up a harvest of empathy in our own hearts, enabling us to carry the cross for another.

The art of Simon carrying Jesus cross comes from a Roman Catholic devotional website.