RCL Easter 4C [i]
11 May 2025
Church of the Epiphany
Surrey BC
One of the more challenging dimensions of teaching or learning another language is understanding how that language uses prepositions, those little words “that (connect) a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to other words in a sentence, showing relationships of time, location, or direction”. [ii] For example, I grew up saying ‘I am going to the store.’ But I have a friend who grew up in Wisconsin a state in the midwestern region of the United States. During the nineteenth and early twentieth century many German-speaking immigrants settled there. Their German language influenced the English that people speak. So my friend says, I am going bythe store.’ His use of ‘by’ parallels how prepositions are used in German.
I could give you many other examples, but I won’t today. This one example is all I need to open a window for you on today’s readings from the prophet Isaiah and the evangelist John. Both of these readings invite us to consider the difference between sympathy and empathy. And the difference between sympathy and empathy is the difference between two prepositions, ‘with’ and ‘in’.
In final chapters of the book of the prophet Isaiah there are series of passages called the ‘Servant Songs’. While there is still a debate among biblical scholars as to whether the ‘servant’ is an individual or a community or a group within a community or the Messiah, one thing is clear: the Servant reveals to the world what God is doing. What God is doing, the Servant says, is bringing all of humanity back into right relationship with God.
And how does the Servant reveal this? The Servant has more than sympathy for humanity. Sympathy literally means ‘feeling with’ another person. Sympathy is a good thing, but there is always some distance between the two people. You may be going through a rough patch in your life, and I may feel some sympathy for you. I might send you a card or call you on the phone or even take you out for lunch or dinner. But after I send the card or hang up the phone or leave the restaurant, I probably leave what you’re going through behind me. I have given you support – a good thing, don’t get me wrong – but I haven’t taken your burden upon my shoulders.
What the Servant shows is that God has empathy for humanity. Empathy means ‘feeling in myself’, identifying with the other person and feeling their pain or difficulty as my own. I might still send you a card or call you or take you out for a meal, but even after I send you the card or hang up the phone or leave the restaurant, I carry you with me. I look for ways to reduce your suffering; I look for ways to change the circumstances you may find yourself burdened by; I make a commitment to stay by your side for the long haul. So long as you are burdened, I am burdened. You are ‘in’ me. Empathy for another person has an enduring effect upon me.
At the end of today’s reading from the Gospel according to John, Jesus says to those who are asking questions about Jesus’ identity, Jesus says, “The Father and I are one.” [iii] The biblical scholar Gail O’Day writes that “Jesus is not saying that he and God are one person, but that he and God are united in the work they do. Jesus’ work and God’s work cannot be distinguished, because Jesus shares fully in God’s work.” [iv]
In Jesus God has more than sympathy for us; in Jesus God has empathy for us and for the whole creation. Jesus is more than a card, more than a phone call, more than a friendly meal. Jesus is the one in whom God shares in the joys and sorrows, the hopes and fears, the successes and failures of human beings.
As I said earlier, sympathy is a good thing. But for the followers of Jesus, sympathy leads us into empathy. In recent days we have been learning more and more about the life and ministry of the newly-elected Pope Leo. More than thirty years ago he chose a path that led him to become a missionary priest and then diocesan bishop in Peru. Along that path he decided to do more than just walk with the people of Peru – he became a Peruvian citizen. These last thirty years have been a journey from sympathy – feeling with another – to empathy – feeling in myself, a journey from keeping a little distance to identifying with the other. In his new role, Pope Leo will be called upon to begin a new journey from sympathy to empathy with others who have been alienated from the life of the Church.
The journey from sympathy to empathy is our journey as well, both as a community of faith and as persons of faith. As we draw ever closer to the appointment of a new Rector and to discerning a path forward for how we use our land for the mission of God in this place, we should cultivate sympathy – feeling with those within our community who may be anxious as well as those who are hopeful – so that our sympathy might blossom into empathy – feeling in ourselves the needs and concerns of others, both within and beyond our Parish community, so that we are transformed into agents of God’s healing and renewing love. The prepositions do matter; they are the difference between keeping our distance and ‘drawing the circle wide’. [v]
[i] Isaiah 53.1-6; Psalm 114; Acts 9.36-43; John 10.22-30.
[ii] AI Overview on Google as sourced on 10 May 2025.
[iii] John 10.30 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition).
[iv] Comment on John 10.30 in The New Interpreter’s Study Bible (2003).
[v] Gordon Light, ‘Draw the Circle Wide’ in Common Praise (1998), #418.
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