What if the point is actually what you can teach me?

While reading for class a while back, I came across a quote from Thomas Kelly. In his book A Testament of Devotion he shares, “Do we want to help people because we feel sorry for them or because we genuinely love them? The world needs something deeper than pity; it needs love.” God’s view of justice has virtually nothing to do with feeling sorry for people and everything to do with genuine love. Matthew 9 is an insightful passage as Jesus is moved by the crowds and feels compassion but follows that up with the mandate that we need workers to meet that need. Matthew 9:35-38 says this:

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

My own experience with service projects for the last 5 years has opened my eyes to the fact that many people enjoy missions and service trips because they feel better after getting a quick high off of feeling heartbroken over a person or a situation. Pity certainly does show up in scripture but in every passage, the Good Samaritan being one, pity results in action. The fact is, nobody wants to be pitied. Where is the dignity in that? If we call people to care simply out of pity and guilt, it is foolish to think this can do any good long-term.

Though their intention is good, it rarely translates into an actual life change once the trip is over. Days or maybe weeks after the trip is over, their attention has again moved back to their own wants and desires. If justice to us means meeting a need short term or feeling like we need to get something out of our experience, we have failed. Until justice means redeeming and restoring people and situations whether that means meeting a need or moving on from an offense, we will be falling short. Until these "trips" translate into long-term life change, I wonder just how much good they are really doing.