When reading Scripture, from time to time, I wonder why some words are translated the way that they are. Of course, sometimes the answer is as simple as our understanding of the meaning of the word in English is morphing and changing as the underlying Greek remains the same. In the Lukan account of the blind man on the roadside, Bartimeus cries out: “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” The underlying word is eléos – I would not have chosen to translate it as “pity” – the meaning is “to show mercy,” indicating a response roused by an underserved affliction in others. It denotes a kindness resulting from a relationship.

In our penitential rite we pray “Kyrie Eleison.” Lord have mercy. Eléos is the mercy that the Good Samaritan shows to the wounded, robbed person he had never met. Eléos is the word used to describe the Hebrew hesed – the mercy of God, divine mercy. In its original use, mercy/hesed/eléos was associated with requests of essential, vital help which the person is unable to attain by themselves. The one to whom the request is addressed needs to be able to assist and must make the free moral choice to commit – not the action – but to the person in need – the willingness to enter into a relationship. Such is divine mercy, divine compassion – it is fundamentally about relationships.

A relationship of mercy that is so much more than pity. Allowing some poetic license …there is no pity in God …there is only merciful compassion. A mercy which forgives – not because we are good, but because God is good. A mercy which loves – because God is good. A mercy which is not limited, not a scarce resource, but a mercy which is infinite – a fountain fullness, overflowing of grace into our world, into our lives.

The suffering, troubled and poor of Prince William County, our state, our nation and our world do not need our pity. They need the divine, merciful compassion Jesus bestows on Bartimeus. In this time and place, we are the conduits of that Divine Mercy and Compassion into this world. We are the one to whom the request is addressed. We must make the free moral choice to commit – not the action – but to the person in need – the willingness to enter into a relationship. Just as God has entered into that relationship with us through the life, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.