You Did It for Me: Compassion in Peru

The practice of compassion lands on one simple thing from Jesus: whatever was done for one small, forgettable person was done for him. Matthew 25 puts the Son of Man on his glorious throne, with every nation gathered in front of him, and the King says that hunger, thirst, sickness, prison, and being a stranger were not side issues. Jesus says the small person in front of someone was never just a small person. Jesus says that the peasant, the kid, the orphan, the neighbor, the one who seemed unimportant, was actually him.

Compassion also has to learn how to receive the compliment of Jesus. The heart wants to deflect it. One person says, “It was nothing.” Another person points to the one percent that could have been better. Jesus stops that and says, “I guarantee this truth.” It was something. It was good. It mattered to the King.

Ayacucho, Peru becomes a real-life picture of that truth. The learning center gives kids lunch, tutoring, and a chance to hear about Jesus five days a week. A child like Damon, living in a house made of tin, tarps, rough concrete, and borrowed space, gets help with grades, food for focus, and hope in his heart. The dream of becoming a lawyer is not silly. It is exactly how generational poverty starts breaking, one kid at a time.

The same compassion reaches through Maranatha Church into families who might never walk toward God on their own. Jose sees the learning center as a lighthouse for his community, and his fear is that generosity might stop because the outreach depends on it. The incarnation of God is not stuck on Christmas morning in Bethlehem. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus become visible in everyday relationships when one church loves another church, and that church loves its neighborhood.

Casa Luz makes the same point with faces that cannot be treated like numbers. Ask and Imagine helped move the girls’ home from seven residents to sixteen, including Sandra, a girl who needed a safe home and slowly learned that a strange gringo’s hand was somehow connected to a safe place. Her hand was not just taken from one person. It was Lake Point’s prayers, generosity, and compassion made touchable.

The next invitation is not pressure to do more because guilt demands it. The next invitation comes when a heart gets filled up with the love of Jesus and needs somewhere to spill it: Peru, Milwaukee, Muskego, the care team, kids, students, laundry, meals, repairs, and one real person at a time.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Small people matter to the King. Jesus does not let compassion stay vague or impressive from a distance. Matthew 25 makes the hidden person in front of someone the place where the King himself is met. The need may look small, and the person may look forgettable, but Jesus calls that moment important enough to remember in glory. [50:28]
• 2. Compassion must receive encouragement. The human heart often dodges grace by saying, “It was nothing,” or by pointing out everything that could have gone better. Jesus names that dodge for what it is, a refusal to hear his “well done.” Faithful compassion learns to accept that small obedience can be genuinely good without pretending it was perfect. [52:40]
• 3. One child can break cycles. The learning center does more than hand out lunch or help with homework. Food, tutoring, prayer, and steady support give a child enough stability to imagine a future that poverty never taught the family to expect. The hope in a kid’s heart can become the first crack in a generational wall. [57:36]
• 4. Safe love becomes visible theology. Casa Luz shows that the love of Jesus is not just an idea explained in church language. A girl who has seen unsafe things can begin to believe in safe people when a home, caregivers, prayers, and generosity all become one shelter around her. Compassion gives flesh to the gospel before a child has words for it. [71:08]
• 5. Full hearts need somewhere to spill. The call to compassion is not framed as shame, pressure, or another religious chore. The heart filled by Jesus may simply become too warm and too full to keep closed. That love can pour toward Peru, Milwaukee, Muskego, kids, meals, laundry, repairs, or the one person God places nearby.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [45:12] - Gratitude for Compassion in Action
• [46:53] - Seven Practices and Summer Rhythms
• [48:16] - Matthew 25 and the Practice of Compassion
• [50:28] - Whatever Was Done for One
• [51:19] - Learning to Receive Jesus’ Compliment
• [54:28] - Ayacucho, Peru and One Life at a Time
• [57:08] - Education, Hope, and Breaking Poverty
• [61:32] - Maranatha Church as a Lighthouse
• [64:13] - Bible Camp and Student Formation
• [68:06] - Casa Luz and Girls Finding Home
• [73:40] - Sponsorships, Trips, and Next Steps
• [75:40] - Compassion in Milwaukee and Muskego
• [77:34] - Take the Compliment and Pour Out Love

Bible Reading

Matthew 25:31-40
““When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”” [48:45]

Matthew 22:37-39
“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”” [46:15]

James 1:27
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Observation questions

1. In Matthew 25, what kinds of needs does Jesus list when he describes what was done for him?
2. In that passage, what surprises the righteous people about the King’s words, and what does the King say back to them? [50:28]
3. What are some concrete ways compassion showed up in Ayacucho through the learning center and the girls’ home? [55:31]
4. What are some examples of compassion close to home that were named, not just far away in Peru? [01:15:50]

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus says that whatever was done for one of the least of these was done for him. What does that reveal about how Jesus sees people who seem small, ordinary, or easy to overlook? [50:40]
2. Matthew 25 connects love for Jesus with very practical care like food, welcome, clothing, and visits. Why is it important that compassion in this passage is so physical and ordinary instead of abstract? [49:16]
3. James 1:27 speaks about caring for orphans and widows in their distress. How does that help explain why a safe home, steady care, and daily support matter so much to God? [01:08:38]
4. Jesus’ words can sound like praise that people almost want to push away. Why do people often struggle to receive “well done” from Jesus when the act of obedience felt small or imperfect? [52:40]

Application questions

1. Who is one person in everyday life who could easily be treated as forgettable, but who Jesus may be putting right in front of someone to be seen and loved this week? [51:06]
2. When encouragement comes, is the usual instinct to say, “It was nothing,” or to focus on the one part that could have gone better? What would it look like to receive Jesus’ kindness instead of deflecting it? [51:34]
3. Where does compassion feel most natural right now: kids, students, meals, repairs, encouragement, hospitality, giving, or noticing the lonely person in the room? What might that reveal about how God has shaped someone to love others? [01:16:16]
4. Is there a place where love for neighbor has stayed general instead of personal? What would help move from caring about “people in need” to actually caring for one real person at a time? [53:23]
5. Some needs are global and some are very local. Which feels easier to engage right now, and which feels easier to avoid? Why might that be? [01:15:48]
6. A full heart needs somewhere to spill. Where does the love of Jesus seem to be pressing for an outlet right now—in generosity, serving, praying, welcoming, or showing up consistently for someone? [01:18:09]
7. If compassion is not meant to be driven by guilt, what helps keep obedience warm, joyful, and connected to the love of Jesus instead of pressure or religious duty? [01:18:02]