Jesus the Game ChangerSample

Care

Jesus transformed how the world cares for those in need.

In the ancient Roman world, generosity was often transactional. The concept of liberalitas meant giving in order to earn honour or secure favour later. By contrast, caritas, giving to meet another’s need without expecting anything in return, was rare. Mercy and pity were considered weaknesses, defects of character.

Yet Jesus taught and modelled something radically different.

Jesus modelled care through his healing ministry, and he also taught on how we are to treat and see others.

In Matthew 25, Jesus made a radical claim: caring for the hungry, thirsty, sick, and imprisoned is the same as caring for him. To follow Jesus was to show mercy not for personal advantage, not to those who could repay the favour, and not only to the powerful and influential. Instead, his followers were called to care because every person has value in God’s eyes.

This was an extraordinary idea in the ancient world. Australian historian E. A. Judge observed that the philosophers of Jesus’ time often discouraged mercy, believing it weakened society. To them, there was little reason to help the poor, the weak, or the outcast. Strength, power, and influence were prized; weakness was something to be ignored or despised.

Christianity overturned that worldview.

Historian Tom Holland reflects on this shift:

“It was not just the extremes of callousness that I came to find shocking, but the lack of a sense that the poor or the weak might have any intrinsic value… In my morals and ethics, I have learned to accept that I am not Greek or Roman at all, but thoroughly and proudly Christian.”

What Jesus modelled and taught, that the early church lived out, reshaped the moral imagination of the world. The instinct we have today to build hospitals, feed the poor, and care for the vulnerable does not come from Greek or Roman philosophy. It comes from the revolution of compassion that Jesus began.

Reflection Questions

• How do Jesus’ words in Matthew 25 challenge the way you see those in need?
• When was the last time you gave without expecting anything in return?
• How might you reflect Jesus’ love through an act of caritas this week?