The Compassion Weapon: The Little Red Hen and the Christian call to vote

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Okay, confession time. Until preparing this devotion, I wasn’t very familiar with The Little Red Hen; however, my wife (Sherrie) was. Somehow, somewhere between childhood, twenty-one years in the military, ministry, raising a family, and nearly forty years of trying to become more fully human through Christ (of course!), this little chicken slipped through the cracks.

Turns out, I should have met this little red hen years ago.

This fable is pretty simple. The Little Red Hen finds some wheat and asks her friends who will help plant it. “Not me.” Who will help harvest it? “Not me.” Who will help prepare it? “Not me.” Who will help bake the bread? You guessed it: “Not me.”

But once that warm loaf comes out of the oven, suddenly everybody is interested in helping eat it. Apparently, wanting the benefits without participating in the work isn’t exactly a modern invention.

Interestingly, Jesus encountered something similar.

For the past several months, we have been walking through the commands and instructions in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. There, Jesus is forming the person—teaching us how to think, pray, love, forgive, trust, discern, and live within God’s reality of TRUE Love. But eventually Jesus comes down from the mountain. And so must we. Now, we go from “forming” to transforming reality.

Matthew 8 and 9 move us from the classroom into the community where ministry happens. Jesus enters towns and villages. He encounters sickness, suffering, rejection, confusion, and people simply trying to make sense of life. Then Matthew tells us something extremely important: 

Jesus saw the crowds and had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus then turned to His disciples (that’s you and me if you claim to be a Christian) and said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37–38, NIV). 

There’s our next tool or weapon in Jesus’ army: Compassion.

A few devotions ago, we talked about sensitivity, and I’ve discovered that sensitivity and compassion can easily be confused. They are closely related, but they aren’t quite the same. Sensitivity notices, whereas compassion moves. Sensitivity allows me to enter another person’s world and recognize what may be happening, and compassion asks, “Now that I see, what am I willing to do about it?”

That’s exactly what we observe in Jesus. He didn’t just glance at the crowds; He truly saw them, understanding their situation. His awareness aroused compassion.

Now, using our fireplace analogy from the previous devotion (The Alertness Weapon), sensitivity allows us to identify the presence of a fire—or notice its absence. Compassion involves caring enough to act—building the fireplace. Why? Because compassion isn’t uncontrolled passion, like we see in many. The fire requires a fireplace—something to channel that passion through Christ’s love, truth, grace, and humility, or true life.

Without the fireplace, passion can become a wildfire that burns people and the house down. But a fireplace built where a fire never burns equals a cold fireplace where coldness happens. Compassion requires both. A fire burns with consideration. It sees. It cares. And it moves! It moves with care and passion, where things happen, where warmth, safety, and control (governance) are well maintained. 

Notice what happens next in Matthew. Jesus tells His disciples to pray for laborers in chapter 9, and then chapter 10 begins with Jesus calling those very disciples and sending them out.

The ones praying for somebody (again, you and I) to go are becoming the people who ought to go. It’s easy to pray, “Lord, send somebody,” while doing everything possible to remain someone else who doesn’t go. We want healthy marriages. Healthy churches. Healthy communities. Good schools. Trustworthy leadership. Truth. Justice. Peace. Freedom! However… Going back to our little red hen: Who wants the bread when all the work is done? “ME!”

Okay, no problem, but who will help make it? Are you willing not only to go but to scream it from the rooftops for others to do likewise? Or will you be the one who says, “Not me”?

And that’s where compassion gets uncomfortable, my fellow Christian friends.

For those of us who claim to follow Jesus, compassion isn’t just feeling; it’s active participation, like serving neighbors, caring for the vulnerable, and, yes, voting, especially in the season we’re in. 

When I say vote, I’m not suggesting my way. Not your pastor’s way. Not because somebody frightened, shamed, or manipulated you into supporting a particular candidate or party. People can be so pushy. I’m suggesting that you become truly informed. Pray. Seek TRUTH. Examine character, policies, consequences, and the choices actually before you. Then exercise your own conscience and go and VOTE. It’s the one thing we can do that truly matters in the faith we claim to be ours.

Understand voting isn’t the Kingdom of God, but compassion in action–like community service and civic engagement reflects Christ’s passion and care in our shared life in the faith.

We can complain about our schools, communities, laws, leaders, and culture. We can post about them. Argue about them. Pray about them. But when given an opportunity to participate, perhaps our answer shouldn’t continually be: “Not me.”

Jesus didn’t merely feel compassion. His compassion moved Him toward people. And then He called His followers, His disciples, His apprentices to move too, so that the Holy Spirit’s (Spirit of Truth) ministry can MOVE, and just perhaps that’s what’s needed to usher in God’s goodness and Christ’s second coming… Just Sayin’ with Pastor Drake 

Maybe that little red hen understood something after all. The harvest is plentiful (Not me! Not me! Not me! Not me!). The laborers are few (ME!). So pray. Then don’t be surprised when God hands you the work, not only to go and vote but also to usher in God’s Kingdom as we steward “The Land of the Free” with His love, grace, truth, and humility.

Compassion isn’t merely feeling about the harvest. It is caring enough to enter the field and MOVE to show what a nation truly believes and how it acts when our motto is… In God We Trust.  

As always—God is here. God is able. God is good.

P.S. If you’re a Christian attempting to justify this right (justice & righteousness) via Scripture:

• Jeremiah 29:7 (Seek the welfare of where you live.)
• 1 Timothy 2:1–2 (Pray for those who govern.)
• Romans 13:1–7 (Recognize government’s legitimate responsibility for public order and good.)
• 1 Peter 2:13–17 (Live responsibly within human institutions while remaining God’s servant.) 

I’ll be continuing this conversation later this week on the Just Sayin’ podcast, where we’ll take a deeper look at The Compassion Weapon: The Little Red Hen.

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but we support the author’s constitutional right to express those opinions.