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Lam. 1:12: "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?"
Introduction
Definition of callous: "hardened," "unfeeling," "indifferent," "heartless," "soulless."
The Context
The terrible fate which befell Jerusalem when the city was captured and ravished by the Chaldeans and its inhabitants were carried as slaves to Babylon.
I. Warnings of Impending Judgments
Disaster foretold one hundred years before by Micah. (Micah 1:1-9; 3:10. Additional reading, Prophets and Kings, chapter 35.)
II. Disaster of Unparallel Dimensions Befalls Jerusalem
See Prophets and Kings, chapter 37.
III. Hope in the Midst of Disaster
Lam. 5:1-3, 7, 8, 17, 19-21.
IV. Lives Drained of Emotion and Compassion
Jerusalem sits alone in her unparalleled grief, and the bitterness of it is intensified by the pitiless disregard of the spectators, the passers-by. "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?"
A parallel may be drawn between the sorrow of Christ and that of Jerusalem. On that tragic memorable day of the crucifixion, the callous, the heartless, passed by the Son of God as the Phoenicians passed by Jerusalem in her desolation and sorrow. It was nothing to them.
We are told that in Gethsemane the Saviour longed for sympathy in His suffering (The Desire of Ages, p. 687). "And I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none" (Ps. 69:20).
"All ye that pass by, to the Saviour draw nigh;
To you is it nothing that Jesus should die?
For sins not His own, He died to atone;
Was pain or was sorrow like His ever known?"
Today the hearts of men generally have become like steel where the welfare of others is concerned. This insensitivity toward the suffering of others was vividly illustrated in the fate of Kitty Genovese, and in the case of a mentally retarded boy.
In Kew Gardens, New York, a respect able American community, Kitty Genovese, a pretty young woman of twenty-eight, drove home from work one night at 3:20 A.M. She parked her car in a lot next to the railroad station and started for her apartment a hundred feet away. She saw a man at the far end of the parking lot, and made her way toward a police call box up the street. She got as far as a street light and the man grabbed her. She screamed. Lights went on, windows were opened, and voices were heard. (Later, police determined more than thirty-seven persons were watching.)
The man stabbed her, and she shouted, "Oh, my God! He stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!"
A man called out, "Let that girl alone!" and the assailant walked away.
Miss Genovese got up and started to ward her apartment. The man caught up with her and stabbed her again. "I'm dying! I'm dying!" she screamed, but no one lifted a finger to help her or even bothered to call the police.
The assailant got into a car and drove off. Miss Genovese crawled around to the back of her apartment. The assailant came back and stabbed her again. This time it was fatal.
One of Miss Genovese' neighbors finally called the police. They arrived in two minutes, but she was dead. Assistant Chief Inspector Frederick Lussen later told The Times, "The assailant had three chances to kill this woman during a 35-minute period. He returned twice to complete the job. If we had been called when he first attacked, the woman might not be dead now."
The neighbor who finally called the police did so after considerable hesitation. "I didn't want to be involved," he was quoted as saying. He telephoned a friend for advice before he made the call, and he crossed a roof to the apartment of a seventy-year-old woman and tried to get her to make the call. Another of Miss Genovese' neighbors said, "I didn't want my husband to get involved," and a man who saw the attacks without coming to Miss Genovese' aid said, "I was tired, I went back to bed."
And the Lord said unto Cain, "Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?"
Two weeks later in Albany, New York, a mentally deranged lad of nineteen crawled out on a twelfth-story hotel ledge and threatened for two hours to jump. A crowd gathered across the street on the State capitol lawn. People shouted, "Jump! Jump! Jump!"
A teenager called out, "Aw, come on, you're chicken," and another shouted, "What's the matter, ya yellow?"
The crowd set up a chant: "Jump! Jump! Jump!" A ten-year-old girl crawled up on the base of a monument and mocked the young man by threatening to jump. A young woman said, "I wish he'd do it and get it over with. If he doesn't hurry up, we're going to miss our last bus." A man said, "Five bucks says he don't jump." And another man remarked, "I hope he jumps on this side. We couldn't see him if he jumped over there."
Finally the young man's seven-year-old nephew persuaded him to come down, and he was taken to a medical center. The crowd went home with nothing to show for the evening but its inhumanity. Later the young man's family agreed to have him committed to a school for the mentally retarded.
No onlooker committed a crime in either of these instances. The law does not require anyone to go to the aid of a help less woman who is being stabbed to death, or even to make a telephone call to save her life, nor is it a legal offense to shout "Jump! Jump! Jump!" to a mentally retarded young man standing on a ledge.
Every one of those people in Kew Gardens is free for the rest of his life to contemplate his irresponsibility in not lifting a finger to save his neighbor. Every person who stood on the lawn at the State capitol in Albany and shouted at a sick young man to jump can assure himself it wasn't his fault that the young man is alive.
The great difference between the people of the world and the people of God is that the people of God know they are their brother's keeper.
V. The Causes of Lack of Concern for Others
1. Callousness
The very sight of misery often encountered hardens men's sensibilities. I know this is true, for as I visit lands of extreme poverty, I realize it is possible to become so accustomed to what one sees that unless very careful one can build up an immunity to the inner springs of emotions that would normally flow out in compassion. Someone has said, "Men look with the eye who do not feel with the heart."
2. Selfishness
Generally speaking, people are self-absorbed. Sympathy, compassion, and concern for the welfare of others require effort, attention, self-renunciation. Selfishness is the taproot of all our sins. (See Gospel Workers, page 114.)
What will destroy selfishness? What is the antidote? (Counsels on Stewardship, p. 23). The parable of the Good Samaritan is a classic example for each of us to emulate. He came upon the scene of a disaster, a tragedy. He asked no questions as to the racial identity of the victim, or of his creed, or of his political philosophy, or whether he was a foe or a friend. He thought not of himself, his own safety, the consequences; he only thought of the need of an unfortunate soul. And with a heart of compassion, he acted. He did not pass him by.
One of the major ingredients in the life of Job that contributed to his success and his prosperity was his heart of compassion for others.
"Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. . . .
I was eyes to the blind, And feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor: And the cause which I knew not I searched out."
"The stranger did not lodge in the street: But I opened my doors to the traveller." ---Job 29:12-16; 31:32.
Thank God for a message of loving concern for others. The third angel's message is a message of love. In the great day of reward, loving compassion for others will be the passport into the kingdom of God. (Matt. 25:31-46; Rom. 13:10; Rev. 22:14.)
Appeal. The crises, the tragedies, the calamities of today---whether caused by earthquake, flood, wars, or famine offer to each of us a challenge, a test for our hearts. Will the test find our hearts over flowing with loving concern, or callous and hard with selfishness?
We are being asked today to share our hearts, our love, in a tangible way with those of our world who are the victims of suffering and woe. The servant of the Lord has said:
"Divine wisdom has appointed, in the plan of salvation, the law of action and re action, making the work of beneficence, in all its branches, twice blessed. He who gives to the needy blesses others, and is blessed himself in a still greater degree."--Counsels on Stewardship, p. 13.
"Every act to relieve the oppressed, and every gift to the needy, if prompted by a right motive, will result in blessings to the giver." --Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 218.
Recently in one country scores of families were made homeless by the demolishing of their little homes in order to clear the sight for a government project. However, no provisions had been made to house these unfortunate victims of this man-made disaster. In this group of homeless souls were at least fifty displaced Seventh-day Adventists. An appeal was made to the General Conference Committee for Disaster and Famine Relief, and as a result of the generosity of the church, where there was once suffering, despair and hopelessness, there are now hearts overflowing with gratitude, happiness, and joy. "Is it nothing to you?"
