Week 1: SYMPATHY & EMPATHY

• What emotion best describes your Christmas season right now? Sympathy, stress, sad, excited or something else?
• Share the most “Christmas-is-here” thing that hit you this week—music, lights, crowds, sweaters, whatever.

• Why do you think Christmas brings out such strong emotions in us? Good and bad…
• How would you define sympathy, empathy, and compassion?

1. What stands out to you most about what Jesus does in this passage?
2. Verse 36 says Jesus “had compassion” because the crowds were “confused and helpless.” What do you think He saw that moved Him so deeply?
3. How would you describe the difference between sympathy, empathy, and compassion?
4. Why do you think Jesus connects compassion with a harvest and workers?
5. Jesus said the harvest is great, but the workers are few. What keeps people from becoming workers instead of watchers?
6. If Jesus looked at our town the way He looked at the crowd… what might He feel? What might He do?

1. Prepare Your Heart (Proverbs 21:31)

• What does it look like to prepare your heart to love people during a busy season like Christmas?
• Where do you personally need God to help you prepare—patience, margin, prayer, perspective, compassion?

2. Start Seeing the Need (1 John 3:17).

• Who are the people you naturally overlook, rush past, or don’t notice?
• How can we train ourselves to see people the way Jesus saw the crowds—with compassion instead of indifference?

3. Get in the Ditch & Do Something (Luke 10:36–37).

• What’s one “ditch” near you—one person, family, or situation—where God is calling you to get involved?
• What usually stops us from stepping into someone’s mess?
• What’s one doable action step you can take this week to show mercy to someone?

4. Compassion Is Contagious (Luke 6:36; 1 John 4:19; 2 Corinthians 1:4–5).

• Who showed you compassion in a way that changed you? How did it impact your faith or life?
• Why do you think compassion spreads quickly when one person goes first?
• How has God comforted you in a way that equips you to comfort someone else right now?

• Who is the one person God is putting on your heart right now, and what is one way you will demonstrate compassion to them this week?