In 1955, when the South was still highly segregated, Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, visited relatives in Mississippi. After Emmett "dared" to talk to a white woman, two white men brutally murdered him. An all-white, male jury found the two "not guilty" - after deliberating for barely an hour. The two men later confessed to the crime in a "Life" magazine article.
Following the verdict, Emmett's mother said, "Two months ago, I had a nice apartment in Chicago. I had a good job. I had a son. When something happened to Negroes in the South, I said, 'That's their business, not mine'. Now I know how wrong I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all".
Making another's concerns our own is what Leviticus 19:18 calls us to do: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself". Jesus quotes this verse and interprets it as not placing any limitations on loving those around us (Matt. 22:39; Luke 10:25-37). Our neighbor doesn't just mean someone close by; it's anyone who has a need. We are to care for others as we care for ourselves. To love our neighbor means to make the persecution, suffering, and injustice of our fellow human beings our own. It is the business of all who follow Christ. Compassion puts love into action.
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