Curiosity

Matthew 23:39 – “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Coming right after his pronouncement that Jerusalem will be left desolate, this verse explains why. Because Jesus is leaving. This is the fourth or fifth time he has told his disciples this. We know now his time is near.

Matthew doesn’t record how Jesus’ audience reacted. There were scribes, Pharisees, the twelve, his other disciples, and the crowd present. There must have been all sorts of reactions. Would the scribes and Pharisees have understood him? What about the crowd? Or the disciples? I imagine a collective gasp followed by many anxious whispers. The disciples had come to depend on him and the crowds, too, would have been dismayed. What about the scribes and the Pharisees? Would they have been relieved or even more concerned?

We know what Jesus meant and knowing makes it hard to imagine the reactions of others hearing it for the first time. Not to mention this was 2,000 years ago. Yet making the effort is good practice in empathy for others. I’ve been talking about empathy a lot because I think it’s an under-taught skill. Many of us are naturally empathetic to those we love. One of my discoveries in Clinical Pastoral Education was that I had to work at empathy for people I have just met. I have a skeptical mind. Sometimes, that’s a problem. So, I work at opening my heart to all kinds of people – especially those I do not want to empathize with – because empathy is love in action. Striving to understand another person is the basis of God’s calling us to love one another.

Curiosity is a great tool for building empathy. Curiosity without judgment. For someone like me, who uses judging others as a defense mechanism that’s a life-long project. It’s worth the work, because loving others leads to more love in the world. More love in the world leads to even more love in the world in an ever-upward spiral. There can never be enough love in the world, or too much love. It starts with understanding ourselves and others.

Calvin wrote that to understand God, we must first understand ourselves; and to understand ourselves, we must first understand God. I believe it works the same with others. To understand others, we must first understand ourselves; and to understand ourselves, we must first understand others. We can now others deeply only when we understand ourselves, and vice versa. It all starts with curiosity. Let’s be curious today.