In Matthew 9, Jesus looks upon the crowds and is moved with compassion because they are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

This week, I found myself thinking about those words as we responded to an overdose at St. Paul's Cathedral. Thanks to the quick actions of staff and volunteers, a man survived. For a few moments, however, he lay lifeless in a church pew.

The crisis unfolding in downtown London is not someone else’s problem. It is not an inconvenience to be managed or a statistic to be debated. It is a human tragedy unfolding among people who bear the image of God.

Again and again in the Gospels, Jesus moves toward those whom others avoid. He feeds the hungry, touches the untouchable, restores the forgotten, and reminds us that every person has dignity and worth.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to do the same.

Compassion, however, is more than a feeling. It must become action. While churches, outreach workers, healthcare professionals, and community organizations continue to respond with mercy and care, we are witnessing the closure of safe consumption services and the loss of funding for organizations like House of Hope.

We can debate the best policies. We should. But Christians cannot be indifferent to suffering. If Jesus was moved with compassion by people who were harassed and helpless, then so must we be.

The question before us is not whether these lives matter. They do.

The question is whether we will find the courage and political will to act as though they matter.

“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages…” (Matthew 9:35).

He did not turn away from human suffering. Neither should we.

People are dying. Compassion without action is not enough.

#ChildrenOfGod #LdnOnt #CarePoint #RadicalHospitality

#HouseOfHope