Compassion or Comparison: Learning to See as Jesus Sees
In this ongoing series on Becoming a People of Love, we are asking the Holy Spirit to move us beyond simply knowing about love and into living it in ways that clearly reflect Jesus. To help us on this journey, we are using our working definition of Agape – “To make an absolute priority of, and to work relentlessly for, the absolute best for another person(s) without expecting a return”.
This transformation is a long process. Last week we learned the importance of truly seeing people. Jesus demonstrated this as He “saw” a grieving widow (Luke 7:13) and Zacchaeus (Luke 19:5), a despised tax collector. In both encounters, Jesus recognized their need and their stories, and as well as responding to their immediate situations, He brought restoration that pointed to the nearness of God’s Kingdom. Yet seeing alone is not enough. We must also pay attention to how we see others—and how that shapes our response.
Jesus illustrates this through two well-known stories from the Gospel of Luke.
The first is the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37). A man is left half-dead on a dangerous road. A priest and a Levite both see him, yet choose to pass by. Their vision is shaped by caution, inconvenience, and uncertainty. The Samaritan, however—despised by Jewish listeners—sees not a problem but a person. Moved by compassion, he acts sacrificially to ensure the man’s care, without expectation of return. The difference is not simply what they saw, but how they saw.
The second story is the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15). Here, a deeply disrespected father watches and waits for his wayward son’s return. When the son finally comes home, the father does not see failure or disgrace—he sees his beloved child. Love shapes his vision, leading him to welcome and restore rather than condemn. While others might see someone unworthy of mercy, the father sees only a son whose return is to be celebrated.
Together, these stories reveal a powerful truth: compassion flows from seeing people as God sees them. Where comparison and judgment see inconvenience or offense, love sees humanity and need. Jesus takes a profound theological idea—God’s love and Kingdom life—and translates it into a lived reality for today. Eternal life, Jesus says, is not only future hope but present experience. When we learn to see with compassion, we begin to live—and invite others into—the Kingdom here and now.
From the Zebra Bag 