I have to warn you all: Taking the Gospel as prescribed will lead to increased levels of empathy.

Truly taking Jesus into your heart has several well-documented knock-on effects that at times may be uncomfortable, but they are good. There are many; but among these effects include:

  • increased levels of empathy;
  • decreased levels of ego-centrism;
  • a stronger drive to help others when they are in need;
  • blurred vision when it comes to the divisions separating us from others in our shared humanity.

These are some of the effects we can expect from the good medicine of the Gospel, if we look at the directions laid out in the scriptures, as well as – you could say – the longitudinal studies of the saints through the generations.

However, this may not be as clear if we look only at a cross-section sample of all Christians at any one time. Is your average Christian right now more or less empathetic, more or less charitable, more or less humble or judgmental? This isn’t the most helpful question to evaluate what the Gospel is and what the Gospel does, because – let’s be honest – it isn’t always easy for all of us to take the Gospel as prescribed. We don’t always follow what the Good Doctor has ordered; we may not take the complete dosages as directed, we may even spit it out but pretend we took it in.

This is a life-long commitment, after all, and we can get lax or complacent. And, let’s face it, some of the consequences of the Gospel can be at times uncomfortable and disruptive and inconvenient. The demands of God’s Love Supreme, the claims the Way of Jesus makes on our verylives … jeeze, sometimes I’d just rather not, you know? I’d rather not care that much.

So, I can understand the appeal of those voices these days who are saying, even from the pulpit, “Don’t worry, you don’t have to care that much.” In fact, some are even saying, “You shouldn’t care that much.” There is in fact a movement within American Christianity these days that claims that “empathy is a sin.” A sin!

I can understand the appeal of believing this. But I have to be clear:

It is a dangerous delusion to claim that “empathy is a sin.”

First, it’s un-biblical. The testimonies of the Bible name all kinds of sins and describe all kinds of ways that sinfulness manifests in humanity. Nowhere does any book of the Bible say anything remotely close to the claim that “empathy is a sin.” It’s a made-up, so-called sin.

Instead, time and time again the Biblical testimonies make it clear that God’s Love urges us to grow in empathy, among many other things.

The Apostle Paul says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15) That’s not just empathy, but radical empathy.

The shortest sentence in the Bible is, famously, “Jesus wept.” Jesus wept when he witnessed the grief of Martha and Mary over the death of their brother Lazarus. The Gospel of John says more than once how “deeply moved” Jesus was by the grief of those who loved Lazarus, even though he knew all along that he would raise Lazarus from the dead. 

Jesus tells us to love others as he has loved us; that’s how people will know we are his followers (John 13:34-35). As the story of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus shows, Jesus makes it clear that love does indeed include empathy.

Jesus also tells us, like Moses before him, to love God with our mind and body, heart and soul; and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Those are the greatest commandments, Jesus says, on which all the other commandments depend (Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18) The “as ourselves” part requires empathy.

When someone asks Jesus to distinguish who is our neighbor, Jesus is clear that he means anyone who needs us to be like a good neighbor for them. (Luke 10:25-37). That requires us to consider things from their point of view.

Jesus’ Golden Rule is impossible to follow without empathy. (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31). We have to be able to put ourselves in other people’s shoes, we have to be able to listen to what other people are telling us about themselves, for us to treat them with the same dignity and respect as we want others to show for us.

The Christian Love to which Jesus calls us does indeed require us to grow in empathy.

The “empathy is a [so-called] sin” crowd are clear about their agenda for this campaign for influence over Christians. They are reacting against the abiding commitment of so many other Christians to defending the dignity and human rights of people like those who are immigrants to our country. They are wanting to justify their scapegoating and demonization of people like immigrants. They are wanting to shut out the voices of conscience that are distressed by the suffering of those who are facing abuse, whose human rights are being violated.

The so-called “sin” of empathy crowd is also clear they are reacting against those Christians who refuse to be judgmental and instead are understanding about the reality that some folk’s gender identities don’t conform to absolute unchanging divisions between male and female. It’s a big concern for them: accepting trans and nonbinary folks is what they call “toxic empathy.” So, you see, this is why they try to argue that empathy is a weakness that leads to sin, because it can lead us to take seriously the experiences, the personhood, of people who are different from ourselves, and can lead us to not condemn them for being themselves.

If all that’s a sin, then, O well, I’ll take my chances – I’ll take my chances that God won’t cast me into the eternal torment of hell because I would not harden my heart against my neighbor. If you’re interested in why I’m not worried about that, and, in fact, am more concerned about the opposite, I recommend you read the Gospel of Matthew chapter 25, starting at verse 31. You can consider that a homework assignment.

The truth is, empathy is not a sin.

I have a responsibility to be clear about that with you all. I’m not too concerned you all here would get snookered by an influencer peddling the line that empathy is a so-called “sin”. But you probably know others who may or who are, and I want you to feel equipped to respond in a clear, strong way.

Now, I also have to be clear that it is not like it’s our capacity for empathy that saves us or condemns us before God. Growing in empathy is, in the image I used earlier, a knock-on effect of the good medicine of letting Jesus into our hearts. It’s not a side-effect that is unrelated to the medicine. But it also is not the main effect of the medicine.  

It is not by our good-works that we are saved, or by our virtues. We are not saved by our ability to perfectly obey Christ’s commandments. We do suffer from sin-sickness and cannot cure ourselves.  

We are saved by the free and outrageous gift of God’s Grace, as given through Christ Jesus according to the Love of our Holy Creator.

When we accept this gift of Grace and let it into our hearts, it puts in motion profound changes in our lives. Jesus, the Apostles, the Saints through the ages have taught consistently about what kinds of changes happen to human beings to take the Gospel to heart. What we call “empathy” is a feature of several of these changes. God’s Love Supreme does support us and challenge us in becoming less self-centered and more able to care for others, both near and far, with less discrimination.

This doesn’t mean that empathy is all-and-everything and always needs to take the lead on every decision to make in this fallen world. But

Now, it’s not easy. It takes toughness and courage to grow in empathy. It does mean more exposure to pain and tragedy that we may be powerless to change, as well as pain and tragedy that we may indeed be able to do something about. That’s just the fact of the matter. We can’t expect otherwise.

The way of Jesus, after all, leads through the cross on the way to resurrected life.

And though Love increases our risk of pain … it also leads to great joy. It’s a tremendous joy for a hardened heart to shed its shackles, by the Grace of God.

This is good medicine, the Gospel of Jesus. It cures our deepest affliction.

So, let’s be willing to do our best to take it as prescribed.

For this I give thanks to God. Thanks be to God.

Delivered Sunday, December 14, 2025, by Rev. Nathaniel Mahlberg at the United Church of Christ at Valley Forge